| christian grantham | |||
| Christian Grantham was a student activist in the late 90s and later was a consultant to domestic policy forums for the Clinton Administration as well as events for HRC and GLAAD. | |||
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latest posts
January 30, 2005
Islamic Fundamentals on Gender
Almost everybody here, in this sterilized waiting room at a clinic in the clanging heart of Tehran, is in the midst of changing their sex. Waiting their turn to see the doctor, they strut about in self-conscious gender rehearsal. "I was married. I had a wife and children," says Maria Pakgohar, a curvaceous former truck driver wearing flower barrettes and fake furs. She claims she's in her 40s but flashes an identification card giving her age as 62. "The cleric came to my house and said to my wife: 'What do you want from him? He's a woman, not a man.' "In the Islamic Republic of Iran, gay male sex still carries the death penalty and lesbians are lashed, but hundreds of people are having their gender changed legally, bolstered by the blessings of members of the ruling Shiite clergy.
[Iran bans being gay, but allows sex change - L.A. Times - 01-30-05]
Hostage Situation
The Arlington Group, comprising some of the President's most important conservative backers, reacted by threatening to withhold much-needed support for one of his top domestic initiatives – overhauling America's pensions system – if he does not vigorously push their own political cause."We couldn't help but notice the contrast between how the President is approaching the difficult issue of social security privatisation, where the public is deeply divided, and the marriage issue, where public opinion is overwhelmingly on his side," the leaked letter said.
[Christians give Bush ultimatum to ban gay marriage - Telegraph - 01-30-05]
Tax Burden
As if tax season isn't stressful enough, gay newlyweds in Massachusetts this year are pondering a new thorny question: Do they check "married" or "single" on federal tax forms?A landmark court ruling made Massachusetts the first state to sanction same-sex weddings nearly a year ago, but gays and lesbians will have to untie the knot this April - on paper at least - since the federal government doesn't recognize their unions.
[Latest gay marriage knot: Filing status for tax returns - AP - 01-30-05]
filed under: Sunday Read
January 29, 2005
An Iraqi soldier holds a leaflet that reads 'Vote for Iraq' outside a polling station in the Salhiyah district of Baghdad.(AFP/Ali al-Saadi)
UPDATE 02-09-05 - Video feeds removed.
filed under: Media
January 29, 2005
There is a reason the Pope doesn't come out and urge Catholic politicians to ban laws that allow divorce and protect various religious lifestyle choices that reject Jesus Christ. Today's Catholics simply have a deep tolerance for such hell-bound lifestyles that explicitly break the commandments.
The moral lapses of today's Catholic Church have nothing to do with the love between same-sex couples, which breaks not a single commandment. Yet nothing is easier for the spiritually misguided and morally bankrupt than to scapegoat those who live as God sees fit.
"Homosexual unions and cohabitation cannot be considered as marriages," Polish Cardinal Antoni Stankiewicz, the most senior judge on the Roman Rota, stressed in an address to the pope."To treat homosexual unions the same as marriages, as has been done under the laws of certain countries, does not make them any more valid, whether or not they are legal," he said.
The Roman Catholic Church has labelled homosexuality "a troubling moral and social phenomenon", while staunchly defending traditional marriage as the basis for society.
John Paul II himself made no explicit reference to same-sex marriages, although he accused Roman Catholic tribunals of laxity in agreeing to annul religious marriages.
[Vatican condemns gay marriage - Times of India - 01-29-05]
filed under: Moral Majority
January 29, 2005
The first indication that President Bush was citing bogus science on adoption lies in the fact that this Adminstration rarely pays attention to real science when it comes to domestic policies. The second indication is President Bush prefacing a discussion on domestic policy with "studies have shown." Then, there are the facts.
"Studies have shown," Mr. Bush said in an interview with The New York Times, "that the ideal is where a child is raised in a married family with a man and a woman."But experts say there is no scientific evidence that children raised by gay couples do any worse - socially, academically or emotionally - than their peers raised in more traditional households.
The experts, who cross the political spectrum, say studies have shown that on average, children raised by two married heterosexual parents fare better on a number of measures, including school performance, than those raised by single parents or by parents who are living together but are unmarried.
But, said Dr. Judith Stacey, a professor of sociology at New York University, "there is not a single legitimate scholar out there who argues that growing up with gay parents is somehow bad for children."
[Experts Dispute Bush on Gay-Adoption Issue - New York Times - 01-29-05]
filed under: Equal Marriage Rights
January 28, 2005
Just two weeks before the launch of Viacom's all gay cable channel LOGO, Joan Garry will resign as the executive director of GLAAD.
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) announced today that, after eight years at its helm, Joan M. Garry will step down as the organization's Executive Director when her contract expires on June 15, 2005.
"I look back at the past eight years as the most professionally and personally rewarding of my life," Garry said. "And now feels like the right time to pass the baton. This job requires significant travel, and right now I'd like to travel less, be at home more, and spend a bit more time with my kids and my partner.
"There's also a very practical element to the timing of this," Garry added. "My contract obligated me to tell the GLAAD board by the end of January whether I would be interested in renewing. This gives all of us enough time to create an orderly, effective transition. GLAAD is fiscally strong, we have a clear vision for our future, and in our strategic plan we have a roadmap to that future that I feel privileged to be able to pass on to my successor. I wouldn't have decided to leave GLAAD without those elements in place. I care way too much about this organization and its future."
Maybe it's just a coincidence, but does Garry's "new and active leadership role within the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement" involve helping VIACOM tell our stories?
"As for my own career path, I look forward to establishing a new and active leadership role within the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement that will enable me to continue playing a part in our fight for equality," Garry said. "I care deeply about civil rights for our community. I believe more strongly than ever that our stories have the power to make those civil rights a reality; and I want to continue to share the expertise and the relationships that I feel so privileged to have gained during my time at GLAAD."
filed under:
January 28, 2005
Free speech has never cost tax payers so much. A third conservative pundit has now admitted to receiving payments from the Bush Administration to promote their policies in columns without full disclosure.
Like Maggie Gallagher, Mike McManus finds absolutely nothing unethical about not disclosing such facts when writing columns praising the very Bush Administration policies on which they had contracts.
On Thursday, a third example surfaced. Mike McManus, who writes a weekly column syndicated in 30 to 40 newspapers, said he was paid about $4,000 to train marriage mentors in 2003 and 2004. McManus was subcontracted by the Lewin Group, which had a contract to support community-based programs "to form and sustain healthy marriages."McManus' non-profit group, Marriage Savers, also is being paid $49,000 by a group that received a Health and Human Services grant to teach similar principles to unwed couples who are having children.
Since the consulting deals began in January 2003, McManus has touted Bush's marriage initiative in several of his columns. At least three of them quoted Horn, a former member of the Marriage Savers board of directors. Horn's office manages the grant and contract under which McManus' group is paid.
McManus, who has been quoted as a marriage expert in publications that include USA TODAY, defended his dual role as a journalist and a government consultant. "I don't see that it's relevant," he said. "I was hired because we have an expertise in working with churches." He said his columns aren't influenced by the payments, and pointed to one in October in which he chided Bush on an environmental issue.
[HHS says it paid columnist for help - USA Today - 01-27-05]
also read: GayPatriot
filed under: Media
January 28, 2005
After today's news about Wal-Mart extending the definition of "immediate family," how many fewer evangelical patrons do you think will shop at Wal-Mart? My guess is the "values voters," led by Focus on the Family's James Dobson, will loudly rattle threats of boycotts while privately bowing to their more important need for commercial convenience.
If ever there was an example of how democratized capitalism helps tame various brands of religious and ideological fanaticism, this is it. All principles bend toward our most basic needs, and what best provides than Wal-Mart or McDonalds?
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is expanding the definition of "immediate family" in its employee-ethics policy to account for laws in states that recognize domestic partnerships and civil unions.The change drew quick praise from a major gay-rights lobbying organization.
The revised policy, which was disclosed Wednesday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission recognizes that in some states "immediate family" includes an employee's same-sex partner.
[Wal-Mart expands policy definition of 'immediate family' - AP - 01-28-05]
Speaking of failed boycotts, don't be surprised to see American Family Association's Donald E. Wildmon soon sporting an Amish beard as his choices of razors slims in the wake of Proctor & Gamble's purchase of Gillette. I suspect Wildmon's principles will also yeild to his personal desire for a baby-smooth shave.
Proctor & Gamble announced an agreement to acquire Gillette for about $57 billion dollars in stock. If approved by regulators, the deal would create the world's biggest consumer-products company, as well as strengthen P&G's clout with retailers.
[Stocks Mixed on P&G-Gillette Merger - Forbes - 01-28-05]
filed under: Moral Majority
January 27, 2005
No matter what you believe about how we got here, this is why we have to win. On Sunday, Iraqis will legitimately vote for the first time in decades. Already, in polling stations across America, Iraqi nationals have cast their vote for the future of Iraq. America has sacrificed greatly for this day, and on Sunday, the world stands with the new nation of Iraq. (view original post)
filed under:
January 27, 2005
Arkansas Rep. Roy Ragland (R-Marshall) hasn't said what he'd do with existing Arkansas school textbooks that don't explicitly define marriage as being between a man and a woman. His recent bill in the Arkansas House of Representatives to require textbooks to reflect the state's constitutional definition of marriage failed, but maybe Ragland can adopt Alabama Rep. Gerald Allen's (R-Cottondale) proposal to burry them.
HB1136 would require that public school textbooks containing a definition of marriage do so "only as a relationship between one man and one woman." It also requires that textbooks be barred from "any definition of marriage that is contrary to the definition of marriage in the Arkansas Constitution."
[Bill Defining Marriage in Textbooks Stumbles - Arkansas Democrat - 01-25-05]
In the spirit of Republicans and their party's evangelical base seeking to cleanse society of references to gays and lesbians across the country, I've re-written a few Nazi Fire Oaths they can all chant as they purge American culture of the plague of homosexuality.
Fire Oaths were written by the German Student Association for Germans to chant as they tossed offending works into the fires of Nazi book burnings. Following each chant, Nazi sympathizers would say the name of the works that brought shame on Germany's purity and morality.
2005 REPUBLICAN FIRE OATHS1. AGAINST: decadence and moral decay
FOR: discipline and decency in family and state
TO BE BURNED: SpongeBob SquarePants2) AGAINST: equal marriage rights
FOR: defending the sanctity of marriage from homosexuals
TO BE BURNED: The United States Constitution3) AGAINST: exposing American children to alternative lifestyles
FOR: portraying strong families with one mother and one father only
TO BE BURNED: Bert and Ernie, Tinky Winky, Buster the Bunny Rabbit
filed under: Moral Majority
, Republican Fire Oaths
January 27, 2005
800 registered voters in New Jersey have voted and determined that openly "gay American" and former Governor Jim McGreevey is one of the worst governors in the state's history.
McGreevey, chased from office last year by a gay sex scandal, and Whitman, who resigned to join the first term Cabinet of President Bush, both were named worst by 26 percent of those responding to Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind Poll.
[Poll: Kean New Jersey's best governor; Whitman, McGreevey tie for worst - Newsday - 01-27-05]
Despite this latest confirmation, I wonder whether star-struck gay activists have rescinded their glowing commendations and courting of Gov. McGreevey now that he's no longer in the spotlight?
Alan Van Capelle, executive director of the gay rights group Empire State Pride Agenda, said the nation's only openly gay governor would be a welcome spokesman for gay and lesbian issues. McGreevey appeared at the group's fund-raiser after coming out."I've spoken to the governor and told the governor in the next several months when he settles down, I think his is going to be a powerful voice for (gay) issues," said Van Capelle.
Michael Adams, spokesman for the gay civil rights group Lambda Legal, said McGreevey's tarnished 35-month tenure would not taint his star power within the gay community or among other special-interest groups.
"The reality is we're a country that believes in rebirth and people moving beyond prior mistakes," Adams said. "Any community would look to 'what kind of contribution are you willing and able to make moving forward,' not what have you done previously."
[Gay Rights Groups Court N.J. Governor - AP via Guardian - 11-10-04]
filed under:
January 27, 2005
Sheryl McCarthy has placed the zealous battle with one of our nation's biggest threats into perspective. Second to homosexuals, cartoons and puppets have a way of distracting the morally misguided from getting their hands dirty with the real problems society faces.
You can't say we couldn't see it coming. In 1994 the Rev. Joseph Chambers of Charlotte, N.C., tried to get Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie banned under under an anti-gay state law that existed at the time. The Pentecostal minister said he knew the puppets were gay because in one episode Bert taught Ernie to sew.
A few years later the Rev. Jerry Falwell attacked Tinky Winky, the sweet-natured Teletubby on the children's TV show because Falwell claimed he was modeling the gay lifestyle.
Now James Dobson of the religiously conservative group Focus on the Family is accusing the producers of a music video for children, intended to promote social tolerance and featuring scores of beloved children's show characters, of promoting homosexuality.
Why? Because it shows SpongeBob SquarePants holding hands with his pal, a starfish.
[The Court is next for SpongeBob foes - Newsday - 01-27-05]
So obsessed with homosexuals is James Dobson, and what he called the evangelical "values voters" that got the President elected, that he literally fell of a stage during the 2004 elections ranting about it and had to go to the hospital. One can only hope Dobson and his evangelical colleagues could demonstrate such passion over poverty, health care or substance abuse without seeming too liberal.
James Dobson is also the same man that recently threatened to hold Social Security hostage if President Bush didn't deliver on a promise to the Republican Party evangelical base to write discrimination against gays into the United States Constitution. Let's hope the hostage threats of Republican evangelicals don't soon extend to SpongeBob SquarePants.
filed under: Moral Majority
January 26, 2005
Move over Armstrong Williams. Yet another conservative pundit has admitted to receiving money from the Bush Administration to write fawning editorials praising Administration policies. The latest conservative on the take is syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher doing her best to hock discrimination on behalf of the Bush Administration. The most recent admission points to a disturbing trend involving the Bush Administration and unethical journalists.
But Gallagher failed to mention that she had a $21,500 contract with the Department of Health and Human Services to help promote the president's proposal. Her work under the contract, which ran from January through October 2002, included drafting a magazine article for the HHS official overseeing the initiative, writing brochures for the program and conducting a briefing for department officials."Did I violate journalistic ethics by not disclosing it?" Gallagher said yesterday. "I don't know. You tell me." She said she would have "been happy to tell anyone who called me" about the contract but that "frankly, it never occurred to me" to disclose it.
Later in the day, Gallagher filed a column in which she said that "I should have disclosed a government contract when I later wrote about the Bush marriage initiative. I would have, if I had remembered it. My apologies to my readers."
[Writer Backing Bush Plan Had Gotten Federal Contract - Washington Post - 01-26-05]
also read: Stonewall Democrats
filed under: Media
January 26, 2005
A flurry of Republican led anti-gay legislation is ripping through the Virginia state legislature. While a proposed amendment to the Virginia State Constitution sailed through a Senate committee, yet another proposed bill seeks to deny gay and lesbian Virginians the right to adopt.
The flurry of divisive Republican legislation began picking up steam when 13th district House Delegate Robert G. Marshall led the passage of HB 751 last year, a bill that revokes the legality of contracts between same sex partners, including those between me and my partner. Marshall is also a co-patron of the proposed bill now seeking to deny gay and lesbian families adoption rights.
"The order of nature strongly suggests a father and mother are necessary for proper development of a child and that means a heterosexual relationship," he said.
[Proposal would ban gays from adopting children - Washington Times - 01-26-05]
When I spoke with Marshall last year to encourage him to reconsider HB 751, Marshall dismissed my "agenda," called me a "Sodomite" and refused to meet with me and 46 others. At that time, I promised Marshall that if he refused to stand up for all Virginians that I would personally do everything I can to make sure Virginia's 13th district is better represented.
Last week, I met with an emerging Democratic candidate that plans to unseat Marshall to represent the priorities that matter most to the 13th district and the state of Virginia. In the coming weeks and months, I and others will help introduce you to this exceptional candidate who has dedicated his life to serving Virginians and others. As one of several campaign volunteers, I will be making a direct appeal to you to help us send a signal to Virginia Republicans that standing for the priorities of all Virginians is what our great democracy is all about.
filed under:
January 26, 2005
Follow up to a post drawing attention to an anti-gay letter from Alabama's Marshall County Sheriff Mac Holcomb. Thanks to those of you here that shared your personal emails to the Sheriff.
Holcomb announced his plans in a written statement Tuesday, though he said his views have not changed. The letter had been moved to a personal Web site Tuesday morning.Removing the letter is a precaution against the county having to spend money on potential lawsuits and makes it clear his personal views don't represent official policy of the county or the Sheriff's Department, Holcomb wrote.
[Sheriff moves anti-gay letter from county site - Birmingham News - 01-26-05]
filed under: Moral Majority
January 26, 2005
If you thought Alabama Rep. Gerald Allen's (R-Cottondale) attempt to censor books, art and film in public schools depicting homosexuals by defunding them and then burning or burying those that already exist was an aberration, now the Bush Administration has brought censorship to a national level.
In a disturbing request, new Education Secretary Margaret Spellings has demanded that PBS return money from the federal Ready-to-Learn program that was spent on a cartoon depicting lesbian bunny rabbits. PBS has now cancelled airing the episode.
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said the "Sugartime!" episode does not fulfill the intent Congress had in mind. By law, she said, any funded shows must give top attention to "research-based educational objectives, content, and materials.""Many parents would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in the episode," Spellings wrote in a letter sent yesterday to Pat Mitchell, president and chief executive officer of PBS.
"Congress' and the Department's purpose in funding this programming certainly was not to introduce this kind of subject matter to children, particularly through the powerful and intimate medium of television."
[Education secretary blasts PBS for cartoon with gay characters - Boston Globe - 01-26-05]
However, nothing in PBS's description of "Postcards From Buster" runs counter to the grant's requirements. The cartoon exposes children to the multicultural fabric of America beyond their hometowns.
Buster takes along his video camera to send home video postcards to Arthur and his friends and family. POSTCARDS FROM BUSTER mixes animation with live-action shooting to present Buster's point of view, what he sees and who he meets through the lens of his video camera, and to show a vivid, multicultural portrait of America and the world.
[Post Cards From Buster - PBS]
It's clear the Republican Party's evangelical base doesn't view gays as part of America's diverse multiculturalism. It is becoming more and more clear the Bush Administration will go to any lengths, however unconstitutional, to carry out the will of their radical voting base.
Here are a couple of Nazi Fire Oaths to help celebrate this glorious occasion upon which our great leader has set forth to purify American culture from the plague of homosexuality!
2. Against decadence and moral decay
For discipline and decency in family and state
Heinrich Mann, Ernst Glaeser, and Erich Kästner4. Against soul-shredding overvaluation of sexual activity
For the nobility of the human soul
Freudian School, magazine Imago
[Nazi Fire Oaths - to be read by Germans while burning undesirable books and art]
filed under: Free Speech
, Moral Majority
January 25, 2005
Andrew Sullivan is right about the integral part torture plays in Bush's foreign policy of "expanding freedom." And who is left but fawning Republican apologists to argue otherwise? That said, torture hardly plays as significant a role in the expansion of freedom in Iraq as killing.
Some values between enemies are more common in war than in peace. In the absence of any sound foreign policy vision beyond war, let's all be thankful that most people prefer their enemies dead than tortured alive, with some exceptions.
Hey, sometimes "military necessity" requires you to pummel a detainee. That's what the president said, wasn't it? In that memo distributed as part of the war-plan. And he's promoted all the architects of that policy, right? And no Republicans are going to complain, are they? Torture is, after all, an integral part of the expansion of freedom across the globe. Hooah.
[AND NOW IT'S NORMAL - Andrew Sullivan - 01-25-05]
filed under: Catastrophic Success
January 25, 2005
Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his bigoted Russian nationalist thugs are at it again. This time they are calling for a government ban on "all Jewish religious and community groups."
The seven-page call signed by 20 members of the 450-seat State Duma lower house of parliament that included the Communist Party and nationalist groups used some of the most profane language against Jews publicly published in the post-Soviet era.
"The whole democratic world today is under the financial and political control of the Jews," said the statement.
The group was led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky and his Liberal Democratic Party.
"We would not want our Russia, which is subject to a permanent, extra-legal war seeking to prevent its rebirth, to find itself among unfree countries," the statement said.
[Russia's nationalists call for ban on Jewish groups - AFP - 01-26-05]
You might remember this spectacular statement from Zhirinovsky last year calling for the execution of Russia's homosexuals.
The last statement on the "homosexual matter" was released from the leader of the Liberal and Democratic Party of Russia, Vladimir Zhirinovsky. The politician urged the deputies to introduce death penalty for homosexual activities. Zhirinovsky suggested the idea at the Duma during a discussion pertaining to the introduction of criminal responsibility for pederasty. Vladimir Zhirinovsky disagreed with a group of deputies and stated that homosexuality was one of the most dangerous crimes. According to the LDPR leader, all homosexuals should be executed. "We can put an end to this perversion, this influence of the Western civilization," said he.
[Criminal responsibility for homosexual activities likely to be introduced in Russia - PRAVDA - 10-05-04]
Not to worry, my fellow American patriots. If we listen to the few moderates left in America's Republican Party on issues of bigotry, all we have to do is have another Big Mac and take comfort in the numbers. The Communist and Liberal Democratic Parties of Russia don't have enough support to actually carry these threats through. It would be a waste of time for activists in Russia and elsewhere to worry about these pandering threats. Besides, they wouldn't dare slaughter Jews and homosexuals without at least a mandate or majority vote in the Duma, would they?
filed under:
January 25, 2005
I don't agree with the tactics of the concerned citizens of Charlotte, but what other choice do they have? I do agree that "gay pride" parades across the country have gotten out of control. Free speech doesn't grant lesbians the right to roam public streets topless or men the right to bear all but a thong and roller skates. It also doesn't allow bookstores to openly distribute pornography on sidewalks.
If these annual events are no longer a place where families with children can participate, the events should either find private venues or be shut down. It's a shame our own community isn't taking a lead and demanding "pride" organizers live up to community standards of deceny.
About 100 opponents of a Marshall Park gay-pride festival urged the Charlotte City Council to clamp down on public displays supporting homosexuality."That is a low community standard," said David Benham of Concord. "And we have turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to this."
The speakers, who took all of the slots available at the council's public forum, complained about explicit photos and skits at last May's event. Quoting the Bible and invoking Jesus Christ, they told the council that it was sponsoring immorality and sin.
Many of the same speakers came to the council last fall with similar objections. In memos, city officials said that the festival's organizers were protected by the First Amendment.
[Many complain about gay-pride festival - Charlotte Observer - 01-25-05]
filed under: Free Speech
January 25, 2005
After the Marquette Heights, IL City Council voted 4-1 last night to change the name of Gay Road to Hennepin Road, at least one resident stood up to defend the "legacy and honor of Picard du Gay." Picard du Gay?
"Are we going to throw away the legacy and honor of Picard du Gay just because his last name is Gay?" he asked the council.Wolf said Gay Road residents are not the only people in the United States living on a road named Gay.
There are 362 Gay streets in the nation, six of which are in Illinois, according to the Web site www.melissadata.com, Wolf said. The Web site provides contact information for people and businesses, among other things.
[Gay Road goes away - Peoria Journal Star - 01-25-05]
filed under:
January 25, 2005
Follow up to one story in a regrettably huge thread of 2004 campaign violence and thuggery (sadly, mostly at the hands of Democrats). No matter what side of the isle you are on, this type of behavior is typical only of the most ignorant and intellectually bankrupt. There is absolutely no room for this type behavior in American politics.
The sons of a first-term congresswoman and Milwaukee's former acting mayor were among five Democratic activists charged Monday with slashing the tires of vans rented by Republicans to drive voters and monitors to the polls on Election Day.Sowande Omokunde, son of Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., and Michael Pratt, the son of former Milwaukee acting mayor Marvin Pratt, were charged with criminal damage to property, a felony that carries a maximum punishment of 3 1/2 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The activists - all employees of the John Kerry campaign - are accused of flattening the tires on 25 vehicles rented by the state Republican Party to get out the vote and deliver poll watchers Nov. 2.
[Lawmaker's Son Charged in Tire-Slashing - AP - 01-25-05]
filed under: Campaign Madness
January 25, 2005
Here is still more proof that the top concerns of the Republican Party's evangelical base are out of touch with the priorities of the American people. "Moral issues," as suggested in the 2004 exit polls, are admittedly more important to the Republican evangelical base than Social Security and tax reform, the war on terror, the economy and issues that truly matter to the rest of America.
Never mind evangelical's recent obsession with a cartoon sponge over the real threat of terror at the hands of religious extremists. Nothing, as Senator Rick Santorum once said, is a greater defense of America's homeland than amending the United States Constitution to discriminate against gay and lesbian neighbors, friends, co-workers and loved ones.
In a January 18, 2005 letter to the White House, Christian conservatives proclaimed that no other issue but "gay marriage" is "at the top of our agenda." The group went on to threaten to withhold support on Social Security reform in exchange for a disgraceful amendment to the United States Constitution.
The Republican Party has a choice. They can continue to bow to their evangelical base as the entire Senate Republican leadership did yesterday, or they can stand up for issues that really matter to our great nation.
The letter, dated Jan. 18, pointed out that many social conservatives who voted for Mr. Bush because of his stance on social issues lack equivalent enthusiasm for changing the retirement system or other tax issues. And to pass to pass any sweeping changes, members of the group argue, Mr. Bush will need the support of every element of his coalition."We couldn't help but notice the contrast between how the president is approaching the difficult issue of Social Security privatization where the public is deeply divided and the marriage issue where public opinion is overwhelmingly on his side," the letter said. "Is he prepared to spend significant political capital on privatization but reluctant to devote the same energy to preserving traditional marriage? If so it would create outrage with countless voters who stood with him just a few weeks ago, including an unprecedented number of African-Americans, Latinos and Catholics who broke with tradition and supported the president solely because of this issue."
The letter continued, "When the administration adopts a defeatist attitude on an issue that is at the top of our agenda, it becomes impossible for us to unite our movement on an issue such as Social Security privatization where there are already deep misgivings."
[Backers of Gay Marriage Ban Use Social Security as Cudgel - New York Times - 01-25-05]
filed under: Equal Marriage Rights
, Moral Majority
January 24, 2005
What is today's top legislative priority of Republicans returning to the United States Senate?
A) defending the homeland
B) balancing the budget
C) funding "No Child Left Behind"
D) Health care
E) None of the above.
If you chose "E," you are correct. Concurrent Resolution 1: Marriage Protection Act is Republican Sen. Wayne Allard's idea of the people's top priority. It's also the top priority of Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who is one of the co-sponsors. Should America count the silence of Republican Party moderates as an "Amen?"
President Bush, who supports a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages, raised eyebrows among conservative Christian supporters recently when he told The Washington Post that Congress might not take action as long as DOMA remains in effect."The point is, is that senators have made it clear that so long as DOMA is deemed constitutional, nothing will happen," Bush told the newspaper, according to the White House transcript.
Allard said he believes Republican Senate leaders will send a different message today. He expects his amendment to be designated Concurrent Resolution 1, indicating at least symbolically that it is the top legislative priority.
[Allard to revive marriage measure - Rocky Mountain News - 01-24-05]
Discrimination: A Partisan Affair
Twenty-one original Republican co-sponsors to this divisive amendment joined the Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colorado) in introducing the amendment. Those include Senators James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), Trent Lott (R-Mississippi), Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming), Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama), David Vitter (R-Louisiana), John Thune (R-South Dakota). Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee), James Talent (R-Missouri), Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia) Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), Richard Burr (R-North Carolina), Mel Martinez (R-Florida), Jon Kyl (R-Arizona), Elizabeth Dole (R-North Carolina), Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee).
filed under: Equal Marriage Rights
January 24, 2005
The defense of marriage and families seems to be losing most to divorce laws that have allowed the South to lead the nation in the dissolution of the family.
When Massachusetts became the first and so far only US state to legalise gay marriage last year, the loudest protests came from the south. Bible Belt states such as Georgia and Alabama portrayed themselves as the defenders of traditional family values against Godless liberals in the north-east.However, surveys of marriage and divorce across the 50 states paint a very different picture of US society. They show that the most stable families are concentrated in the easy-going north-east, while the God-fearing south has the most broken homes.
Southern states account for eight of the 10 highest divorce rates, while nine of the 10 lowest are in the north-east, according to the US Census Bureau.
[South finds families that pray together may not stay together - Financial Times - 01-24-05]
Is it time for legislation to criminalize divorce? Evangelical conservatives often use the following comments from the Bible depicting Jesus justifying legislation defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The full context, however, had nothing to do with homosexuality as much as it was a broad condemnation of laws allowing divorce.
Mark 10: 2-12 (thanks Rev. Marti Abernathey)
2 Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?"
3 "What did Moses command you?" he replied.
4 They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away."
5 "It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied.
6 "But at the beginning of creation God `made them male and female.' 7 `For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,
8 and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one.
9 Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
10 When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this.
11 He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her.
12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery."
Adultery, as we all know, is such a sin it made it into the very Ten Commandments conservatives demand be placed in public buildings. No where in the Ten Commandments does homosexuality rise to the national disgrace and destruction of adultery.
Conservative evangelicals have two choices. They could follow Jesus and defend the basic tenants of Christianity by divorcing less and addressing rampant adultery, or they could blame gays for their own personal spiritual shortcomings and seek ways to destroy still more loving American families. Which path is President Bush and the Republican party willing to take?
filed under: Equal Marriage Rights
January 23, 2005
DOMA upheld
Massachusetts right now is the only state that allows gay marriage, but Wilson and Schoenwether want their home state of Florida to recognize their union, too. Their attempt to get that recognition, though, was soundly rejected this past week when a judge dismissed their lawsuit, upholding a federal law that lets states ban same-sex marriages.The People's Conviction
[Gay marriage loses court fight - Post Gazette - 01-23-05]
On the question of whether elected officials should set their convictions aside to get results in government, 84 percent agreed in 2000. However, four years later that had dropped to 74 percent. There was a sharper decline on the same question among weekly church-goers from 82 percent in the first survey to 63 percent in the second.Religious Intolerance
[Survey finds church-going Americans less tolerant - Reuters - 01-23-05]
"For some reason, people in East Texas find it hard to believe, but the gay and lesbian community do actually have members who practice religion," Steve said. "The problem is, it's very hard to find churches here in Nacogdoches that accept homosexuality — where you could attend church with your partner or friends."Defending the Homeland
[Gay in East Texas: Churches struggle with an ‘extremely hard topic' - Daily Sentinel - 01-23-05]
Now, Dobson said, SpongeBob's creators had enlisted him in a "pro-homosexual video," in which he appeared alongside other children's television characters including Barney and Jimmy Neutron, among many others.The makers of the video, he said, planned to mail it to thousands of elementary schools later this spring to promote a "tolerance pledge" that includes tolerance for differences of "sexual identity." He urged his allies to help stop it as part of a "spiritual battle" for the country.
[Social conservatives zero in on SpongeBob - Houston Chronicle - 01-23-05]
filed under: Sunday Read
January 21, 2005
I really respect Joan Garry of GLAAD, but this probably could have been said better in addressing groups who felt left out of the recent statement of unity.
“There are hundreds of LGBT organizations around the country and we fully expect that many of these groups will use this statement as their own, as a launching pad to talk with their constituents in the coming year,” Garry said.
[Excluded leaders criticize unity statement - New York Blade - 01-21-05]
I'm not sure the "hundreds of LGBT organizations around the country" ever needed a statement from national groups as a "launching pad to talk with their constituents." These groups are already having a discussion with constituents. It's national groups that are having an admitted problem speaking with constituents beyond their blue-state comfort zones.
filed under:
January 20, 2005
Over a month ago, I warned you it was coming. A raging debate over a new book by the now deceased author and psychologist C.A. Tripp making the case that Lincoln was gay is consuming Lincoln historians. Now, Editor of The Nation, Katrina vanden Heuvel, has upset some sensitive academics over this art in the January 6 edition depicting Lincoln as a transsexual.
Larry Gross, Director of the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California, has written me to comment on this embarrassing cartoon that, "besides not being funny -- a serious sin, as Oscar Wilde might have pointed out -- it's fairly offensive in its knee-jerk association between 'Gay' and 'woman in man's body' or whatever yuck yuck image Grossman intends. It's not much different, interestingly enough, from what was on the cover of the Weekly Standard." Yes, Larry, it is different--it's much worse. This Nation cartoon is like something out of a time warp: the long-ago disproven notion that a man who loves a man really wants to be a woman is truly from another age.
[BABE LINCOLN - Direland - 01-20-05]
In an email to The Nation, shared by permission, the former editor of New York Magazine and author of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," John Berendt, has gone so far as demanding Katrina vanden Huevel "recall all newsstand copies of this offensive issue."
Dear Ms. vanden Heuvel, I'm sure I'm not the only person who finds your Abe Lincoln cartoon deeply and painfully insulting. What you mistake for humor is nothing more than virulent and blatant homophobic garbage, utterly unworthy of the 140-year-old magazine entrusted to your care. It's this kind of ignorant stereotyping that fuels and perpetuates hatred, disgust and violence against homosexuals. I'm embarrassed for you.The only meaningful apology you can make now is to recall all newsstand copies of this offensive issue, and then announce that you have done so, along with a convincing statement of apology. Please note I suggest you remove the copies first--quickly and quietly, before any announcement--so as not to make them a collector's item.
How you handle this sorry episode within your own conscience is your own, very serious problem.
Sincerely,
John Berendt
This may upset some of my transgender friends and liberal colleagues, but The Nation is well within their right to exaggerate and offend. Katrina vanden Heuvel seems to have made an art of it lately, anyway.
Katrina vanden Heuvel's "Black Thursday" Prayer
So, let's not hang our heads this Black Thursday but instead recognize that these are victories to build on in the next years.
[Taking It to the States - The Nation - 01-20-05]
also read: Chris Geidner, Atrios
filed under: Media
January 20, 2005
Was President Bush successful in "changing the tone in Washington" in his first four years? Is his renewed pledge to do the same a hollow echo of 2000? It seems to me a calculated expression of hope while President Bush and the Republican Party's actions have been the exact opposite.
If President Bush and the Republican controlled House and Senate want to change the tone in Washington, they are in a position to do so with complete control of the nation's Capitol.
If Republicans can recognize that half of Congress are, in fact, Democrats who beat their Republican opponents and represent the voice of accountability in America, respect will return to Washington. Instead of complaining about that fact and smearing Democrats as stonewalling obstructionists for demanding accountability from Bush's nominees for his Cabinet and the judicial branch, Republicans should recognize that half of America's voice matters in the process.
If Republicans want to change the tone in Washington, the Republican party will demonstrate that half of America's voice in Congress matters enough not to change the rules to limit debate and withhold the language of bills that affect all Americans, including half of those represented by Democrats.
If Republicans want to change the tone in Washington, the Republican party will respect the fact that half of America have given their Democratic representatives a mandate to stand up for a level of accountability Republicans refused to live up to on matters that call for our nation's treasured servicemembers to be placed in harm's way.
If Republicans want to change the tone in Washington, the Republican party will return to a fiscal responsibility of the 1990s and respect those voices of American families who sent Democrats to Washington to demand accountability for the largest deficits in American history.
The next four years is an opportunity for the Republican controlled White House, House of Representatives and Senate to change the tone in Washington by standing up for all the voices America sent there to do our business. Where the Republican Party fails to do so, they should expect the voices of at least half of America keeping them awake at night.
Still, he has tried to project a willingness to make some changes, if his opponents are prepared to do the same. In an interview with The Washington Post last week, Bush said he regretted his inability to change the tone in Washington, saying he will try in his second term to work more successfully with Democrats in Congress but knows that now he is dealing with a different political culture than he enjoyed when he was governor of Texas.Washington, "is tough," he said. "It's different from Austin. . . . I'm mindful of my rhetoric when it comes to the Democrats. I've really checked back." Bush paused to acknowledge he had not checked his rhetoric during the campaign, calling it a matter of political survival. He continued: "I think all of us, all of us, have got to work to set the right kind of tone. I will continue to do so."
[Looking to Apply Lessons Learned - Washington Post - 10-20-05]
You can help the Democratic Party hold the Republican Party accountable to our nation's respect of the Democratic process by clicking here and giving.
filed under:
January 19, 2005
In today's Chicago Tribune, Clarence Page points out how the Republican Party pandered to the top moral values issue of its evangelical base in 2004 by demonizing equal marriage rights.
The president said there was no reason to press for the amendment as long as so many senators are convinced that the existing Defense of Marriage Act, which relieves states from recognizing same-sex unions that take place outside their borders, is sufficient, unless it is overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court. Senate leaders say the amendment cannot win the 67 votes needed for passage as long as the Defense of Marriage Act is constitutional. "Until that changes," Bush said, "nothing will happen in the Senate."
Yes, whether you favor the right to same-sex marriage or not, the Defense of Marriage Act, which President Clinton signed in 1996, renders a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages quite redundant and an unnecessary intrusion on state's rights. That's precisely what the amendment's opponents have been arguing all along.
President Bush held a similar position, until the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld gay marriages in that state. Under pressure from organized religious conservatives, Bush couldn't resist riding the backlash and turning the proposed constitutional amendment into a major campaign promise, whether it was necessary or not. Now? He's won. That's different. Never mind!
[Bush's promises? Oh, never mind - Chicago Tribune - 01-19-05]
filed under: Moral Majority
January 19, 2005
If you still aren't convinced that the Republican Party's evangelical base places their anti-gay agenda above national security, take a look at the latest comment from the Family Research Council in this morning's Washington Post.
What do they think the Bush Administration's most "important issue" in his second term should be? Is it the war in Iraq? Homeland defense? Social Security or tax reform? No. Is it any other moral issue like abortion or school prayer? No. It's "gay marriage." This view is shared by many within the Republican Party's evangelical base and is also reflected in the 2004 exit polls.
Prominent leaders such as Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, and many rank-and-file Bush supporters inundated the White House with phone calls to protest Bush's comments in an interview published Sunday in The Washington Post. "Clearly there is concern" among conservatives, Perkins said. "I believe there is no more important issue for the president's second term than the preservation of marriage."
[Bush Upsets Some Supporters - Washington Post - 01-19-05]
If President Bush spends any political capital on an amendment codifying discrimination into the United States Constitution, we can first thank the deafening silence of Republican moderates.
filed under: Moral Majority
January 18, 2005
Th