Mary & Heather under fire

Widely publicized already, the birth of a son to Mary Cheney and Heather Poe has the wingnuts collective panties in a wad. As Good As You has the scoop!

Mary C: Let the condemnations begin

[...]this is offensive to the millions of gay people who know their truths. But you know who else should be offended? Anyone who is an adoptive parent or child of such!

Oregon civil rights under fire!

You would think the ass-clown wingnuts would have something better to do in Oregon oh... say, fight homelessness or poverty, Oh I know, maybe make sure all of the kids in OR have health insurance. Not so much. They are more interested in attacking gays and lesbians...

Coalition forms to stop gay-rights laws

A coalition of social conservative and church groups are ready to launch a campaign to ask Oregon voters to overturn two gay rights measures recently enacted by the Legislature.

"It's going to be a lot of citizens who are highly motivated to make this happen," said former state Sen. Marylin Shannon, a Republican from Brooks who's been involved in forming the coalition that will spearhead the effort.

They are aiming to block implementation of two bills that were signed into law last week by Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski, forcing them instead to the statewide ballot in November 2008.

One is a domestic partnership law that will enable same-sex pairs to enter contractual relationships that carry many of the benefits of married couples under state law. The other law will ban discrimination against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people in employment, housing and access to public accommodations.

Shannon said she and other social conservatives believe the measures, especially the domestic partnerships bill, go against the wishes of Oregon voters who approved a constitutional ban on gay marriage in 2004.

"We are offended that the Legislature voted to overturn the will of the people," Shannon said.

assholes

Boo hooo

Bush Becomes Pariah To Many Republican Lawmakers

Republicans in Congress are increasingly worried that their stalwart support of President Bush's Iraq war policy may cost them dearly in next year's elections. Should their solidarity crack, it could boost Democrats' efforts to start troop withdrawals.

JJ has entered the building!

My my my, gone for a week and so much has happened I am overwhelmed with things post and comment on!

Our esteemed legislature was very busy last week!

First, the Domestic Partnership bill passed:

Washington Legislature passes domestic partner bill

The bill passed easily on a 63-35 House vote despite condemnations from conservatives who said the bill was an affront to community values and religious freedom.

Then the Healthy Youth Act was passed:
Healthy Youth Act Approved

After four hours of debate, the Washington House of Representatives voted 63-34 Wednesday to require sexual education in public schools to be medically accurate. The vote sends the bill to Gov. Christine Gregoire for her signature.

Both of these items initiated a violent response from Joe Fuiten, self proclaimed leader of all Washington wingnuts. He is calling all Christians to pray for plague, famine, earthquakes etc. etc. to be called down upon Washington to demonstrate Gods displeasure with the passage of these two bills.

So far no earthquakes or famine have happened, I guess that means that God supports this legislation.

US Religious extremist

Are they any different from terrorists?

Good As You has the goods on the Fred Phelps clan.

Video: 'The Sur-Real World'

Just a teaser from their blog...

Catch a glimpse of the hatred as they sing "I'm ashamed to be an American - where the fags can freely roam"



If they hate America so much there is a nice place in Fallujah for them.

God Help Us...

Romney Considers Bush As Running Mate

Among those Romney mentioned for the second slot on the Republican ticket were three Southerners: South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

Hutcherson supports throwing s**t at gay activists

Our dear reverend Kenny Hutcherson recently visited Latvia claiming to represent the White House office of Faith Based Initiatives. This has landed Kenny in a steaming pile of crap as a call for an FBI investigation is underway.

First of all I have an issue with our tax dollars going to faith based initiatives at all. I believe this is unconstitutional in that the separation of church and state is violated. Not to mention the majority of the funding has been proven to go to conservative religious organizations that are predominantly republican supporters. But this is a whole separate article that I will get to some day.

In the meantime Kenny's claims to be a US Official are just another part of that ego maniacal behavior that he exhibits time and again. The fact that he is supporting a church group who threw excrement at pro-gay activists is a testament to the new low that this Seattle bigot has sunk.

Row over anti-gay "envoy" hits Latvia as White House denies link

[Hutcherson] visited Latvia in early March at the invitation of the New Generation church, whose supporters famously pelted pro-gay activists with bags of excrement at a rally last summer.

Once again our famous self proclaimed super hero Bucolic Braggadocio strikes with his self humiliation death ray! This time he not only humiliates himself but takes an entire country down with him!

The affair now has the potential to embarrass Latvia both
domestically and internationally.

Way to go BB!

Hooray!

Bill Would Include Gays Under Hate Crimes Law

Of course the wingnuts are all over this with their collectively wadded panties.

Support the cause!

Sign the HRC Petition.

Genetic cleansing...

I was in the process of typing up an article about this then cruised on over to the Blend and there was the post already done by Pam!

Baptist leader urges 'genetic cleansing' of homosexuality

One of the nation's leading Southern Baptists has called for a policy that would support medical treatment, if it were to become available, to change the sexual orientation of a fetus inside its mother's womb from homosexual to heterosexual.

"If a biological basis is found, and if a prenatal test is then developed, and if a successful treatment to reverse the sexual orientation to heterosexual is ever developed, we would support its use as we should unapologetically support the use of any appropriate means to avoid sexual temptation and the inevitable effects of sin."
-- Rev. R. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY

I just don't know where to begin with this one! First the evangelicals say that Homosexuality is a choice now they are moving towards the belief that it is genetic. So they suggest that it is OK to treat a fetus for homosexuality if it will make it a heterosexual. On the other hand if a fetus is determined to have a genetic abnormality of, say, Downs Syndrome treatment is forbidden because this defect is "God's will".

Is there no end to the hypocrisies?

Haggard run out of town

Haggard Leaves Town

Ted Haggard, one of the most powerful evangelical pastors in the country until it was disclosed he had frequented a male prostitute and had purchased methamphetamine, is packing up and leaving Colorado Springs to begin a new life with his wife.

"Jesus is starting to put me back together," Haggard wrote in an email he sent to his former parishioners at the 14,000-member New Life Church he had founded.

Now to REALLY scare you...

In his email Haggard said he and his wife would pursue psychology degrees.

Good As You says it best:

That three years of (alleged) motel sex -- just an oopsie
Rev. Tim Ralph, one of the men who has been overseeing Ted Haggard's "restoration," has a message for everyone wondering about the disgraced pastor's current standing. He tells the Denver Post:

"[Haggard] is completely heterosexual,"..."That is something he discovered. It was the acting- out situations where things took place. It wasn't a constant thing."
...
"If we're going to be proved wrong, somebody else is going to come forward, and that usually happens really quickly,"..."We're into this thing over 90 days, and it hasn't happened."

Oh, where to begin? Well, let's start with the obvious -- a "completely heterosexual" man does not routinely dabble in sex with someone of the same gender, even if it is confined to only one man. A "completely heterosexual" man may try same-sex sex and discover that it is not for him, just as many homosexuals have first experienced gender-discordant sex and learned the same about themselves. But this is a man who headed one of the most gay-unwelcoming organizations in the nation who, over the alleged span of three years, has extramarital sexual relations with a male escort! Not only did he have it, he PAID FOR IT! If he was not enjoying himself, wouldn't logic lead him to spend both his time and money elsewhere?

Exactly!

The Pope is Bleating AGAIN!

Once again Papa Razzi is bleating fire, brimstone, hellfire, locusts, pestulence and ohhh the horror what about the children for Godsakes what about the children?!?!? over the thought of two people who love each other getting married.

Pope Fires New Broadside At Gay Families

How much does bigotry cost?

Apparently $410,000 in Massachusetts. That is what it cost the MA wingnuts to get a anti-marriage amendment on the legislative agenda. The anti-gay amendment has to pass one more round of votes in the legislature in order to be put to voters who will, by their vote, determine the civil rights of tens of thousand American citizens.

From 7 News Boston:

A campaign finance report filed last week with the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance shows VoteOnMarriage.org spent more than $389,000 last year, including money raised the previous year.

It also used in-kind donations worth more than $60,700 in legal fees and staff time from the Massachusetts Family Institute, which helped form VoteOnMarriage.org to raise money for the ballot question.

Now what does it cost to fight the bigots?

MassEquality.org’s campaign director, Marc Solomon, said the group formed to fight the ballot question spent $1 million lobbying against the amendment last year.

And apparently that is not enough to retain an Americans' civil rights when pitted against the passion of religious fundamentalism, hatred and bigotry.

WA Wingnuts divided

Little Kennie Hutcherson of the Antioch Bible Church in Redmond finds himself ostracized from the rest of the wingnuts in WA because they have gay marriage in their sights while Kennie still has his panties in a wad over the anti-discrimination bill that passed last year.

So Little Kennie is reaching out to anyone who will listen which is apparently the Slavic churches of WA. What interesting bedfellows bigotry makes! Kennie started his outreach to the Slavic community last spring for the “lets keep discrimination against gays legal” that Little Timmie Eyman fumbled. Now he is back at it hoping to gather enough signatures from the backwoods bible thumpers (unfortunately for Kennie, just over ½ of the Slavic church attendees are American Citizens who can legally sign the petition).

This outreach to non-mainstream churches shows the division in the evangelicals in WA. Most churches are focusing their full attention on gay marriage because they know it is an uphill battle to re-write discrimination into the law. In addition they understand that the anti-dsicrimination bill is small potatoes compared to gay marriage so they are determined to focus their attention solely on this issue. It is nice of Little Kennie to divide the forces for us!

The Seattle Times has the full story: (emphasis mine)

Gay-rights foe finds new allies in Slavic churches

On a recent Sunday morning, at a strip mall in Kent, a few hundred people gathered to worship, rocking out to a band playing contemporary worship songs and cheering on the fiery pastor -- all in Russian.

This might seem an unlikely place for Ken Hutcherson -- Redmond's Antioch Bible Church senior pastor, who is known for outspoken views against homosexuality -- to look for allies in his effort to overturn a state law banning discrimination against gays and lesbians.

But then Pastor Andrey Shapovalov asked the children to come forward. Bless them, he said. "Pray that none of them become homosexuals or lesbians or have abortions or live a life of crime."

I think Bill Dubay said it best:

All of which has local gay-rights activist Bill Dubay musing: "I don't know why he cares so much that people have legal protections. ... It seems to me he needs a lot of attention, and this gets it for him."

Low and behold:

Hutcherson, who had a brief National Football League career as a linebacker with the Seahawks, Dallas Cowboys and San Diego Chargers, acknowledges "I have a tremendous ego."

"That's why I played pro football," he said. "I'm taking that same ego and energy that benefited me in football and now putting it in for the glory of God to do his will and his work."

In that regard, his ambitions are bigger than ever. He talks of organizing an international summit: "I am building a force around the world."

Delusional? So it would seem. Reaching out to the local conservative Slavic churches does not classify as a "force around the world". Apparently Little Kennie found the tipping point between ego and delusion. Next he will be putting on tights and a cape and joining Stan Lee on "Who Wants to be A Superhero?" I think his alter EGO superhero name will be "Bucolic Braggadocio".


Any other alter EGO superhero names for Little Kennie?

Blog I like

As Good As You is one of my favorite reads! Primarily because of posts like this one:

'Concerned Women' not concerned enough with hate crime facts

And since we apparently have CWA's attention, let us now point out the holes in Mr. Barber's logic.

>> "If it becomes law, it can easily be misapplied and used as a hammer against free speech"

-- How, Matt? In order for the hate crimes penalty prescribed in the bill to be enacted, a crime of some sort has to first be committed! We are not talking about whether or not hate speech should be protected as free speech, as it currently is in this country. That is an entirely separate debate and the criminalization of hate speech would be an entirely different bill (one, we might add, that we would likely not support). But what H.R. 254 addresses is the punishment given to those who commit a physical crime that's deliberately targeted towards a person's race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.

I love it when the facts and logic can so handily destroy the wingnuts arguments. The sad part is that the people who are listening to the CWA and the Matt Barbers of the land don't actually believe the facts, they are moved by emotion which trumps facts, figures and logic any day. It is still a wonderful post, it is awesome to see that some of us out there are looking at what these wingnuts are saying and applying some basic critical thinking techniques to their statements.

See the entire posting for the rest of the lovely evisceration of Matt Barber...

AFA panties in a wad

I think the American Family Association and Don "wild man" Wildmon spend way too much time watching television. They are calling to expand their failed "Boycott Ford Campaign" because a Ford commercial aired during and episode of the new FX series "Dirt".



The scene described as "graphic and offensive" was posted at You Tube by the AFA!

There is no explicit sex, no skin showing, just a good illusion that the actors are involved in a racy encounter.

CAUTION: The rating for this episode was "M" for mature content; viewer discretion advised.


I think it is really funny to note that the AFA are the ones who put this You Tube clip up for everyone to watch over and over again and it has had over 39,000 hits and 36 people have added it to their favorites (presumable so they can watch it over and over and over).

Hooray!

Philadelphia Had Right To Arrest Anti-Gay Protestors Court Rules

The Nigerian Law

Some of you have probably heard about the horific anti-gay laws being considered in Nigeria. The law would ban EVERYTHING related to homosexuality. This includes holding hands, browsing gay related websites, all publications and any social groups of gays. Gays are also prevented from association or organizing.

From the Advocate:

Activists fight Nigerian anti-gay law

Nigeria seems certain to legislate one of the world's most sweeping and repressive anti-gay laws unless international pressure is bought to bear on the Nigerian government in the next few weeks, according to Peter Tatchell of the London-based LGBT rights group OutRage!

I am now marking Nigeria off of the list of places to visit in my life time.

I am also going to recommend the entire congregation of the Westboro Baptist Church relocate their operations to Nigeria where they will apparently find numerous like minded individuals to preach to.

Is anyone suprised?

Little Kenny Hutcherson is gathering signatures to repeal the Anti Bias Law! From King5 News

Redmond pastor wants bias law repealed

SEATTLE - The senior pastor at Redmond's Antioch Bible Church has filed an initiative to repeal a state law banning discrimination against gays and lesbians.

Kenny boy has to gather at least 225,000 signatures by July to get the initiative on the ballot. Do you suppose he will use little Timmie Eyman to help out since he failed so miserably on the last bigoted initiative he tried?

Let the bleating begin!

In response to the two bills introduced in the Washington State Legislature by Ed Murray, the right wing religious conservative group "Allies for Marriage and Children" responded in quick typical fashion with a press release.

The press release is the typical blathering about how same sex marriage will bring the destruction of Society. The really funny part that sent a side-splitting guffaw roaring our of me is this:

Another Allies Board member and co-chair, Aaron Haskins of the Coalition for Community Development and Renewal in Seattle, (and Cheryl Haskins’ husband of 25 years) said: “Marriage is not a package of government benefits. It is not a right. It is more than a piece of paper. It was not created by government, and it should not be redefined,” Aaron Haskins said.

OK Aaron (who, by the way, is redefining marriage in his statement!) if you do not have the government recognition, the "package of government benefits" or the "piece of paper" that says you are married then are you in fact married? That would be a big fat in-your-face NO! You may be married in your mind but the reality is that you are not in fact legally married unless you have "a piece of paper" that is signed by a legal authority of the government. Nice try bozo.

They go on to say that "traditional marriage" must be preserved but offer no definition of "traditional marriage" other than it is between one man and one woman. They fail to acknowledge that only recently has marriage been anything other than a legally binding business arrangement between two families. Traditional marriage was the purchase of a woman from another family for a dowry, a man that could afford it could purchase as many women as he wished.

Each generation defines marriage in its own unique fashion. "Traditionally" the definition of marriage has been as fluid as the uniqueness of those who choose to marry. The government benefits package is the exact discrepancy between marriage discrimination and marriage equality.