tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79009554847220483422024-02-06T19:36:14.560-08:00Blogging for Truth"It's better to light candles than curse the darkness."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-4015891338058528102009-08-31T00:00:00.000-07:002009-08-31T02:02:07.543-07:00Flesh and Blood Truth<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;">These two quotes have been rolling around in my head now for over a week:</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;">The first from Lauro Aguirre: "Truth for the tyrants is the most terrible and cruel of all bindings, it is like and incandescent iron falling across their chests, and it is even more agonizing than hot iron for that only burns the flesh, while truth, burns it's way into the soul..." and from </span><span style="font-size: normal;">Robert Louis Stevenson: “Truth, even in literature, must be clothed with flesh and blood, or it cannot tell its whole story.” </span><br />
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</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;">They tie into my last post and what <a href="http://bloggingfortruthmay2009.blogspot.com/2009/05/pilate-is-laughing-from-reiters-block.html">Jendi Reiter wrote for us</a> last May. One particular series of statements from her writing has continued to haunt my mind and grow in scope: <i>Some conservatives address the problem by redefining what homosexuality is. It's an immoral choice, it's a curable neurosis, it's a perversion. It has to be, because the text says so.<br />
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This is the rhetorical move that frightens me. "We know you better than you know yourself: your love is only lust, your identity is confusion, and if you can't change, it's because you're not trying hard enough." <b>Basically, the conservative church is saying to GLBT people that they can't trust their own perceptions of reality, even concerning the contents of their own minds and the feelings in their bodies."....</b></i></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><i><b> </b> <br />
</i></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><i>....Other conservatives would acknowledge that same-sex orientation may be innate and unchangeable, but they argue that the Bible calls all people so afflicted to live celibately. This position at least avoids the necessity of spreading misinformation about GLBT sexuality, but it's still a variation of the same power grab discussed above.</i></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;">She goes on to point out: <i>All of us "Bloggers for Truth" have stories we can tell about our own partnerships or those of our parents, teachers, pastors and friends--all GLBT people whose lives have been touched by the Spirit. But we also have to make the Scriptural case that stories are truths, on a par with or superior to the truths of abstract reasoning, at least when it comes to practical ethics.</i><i><b> Time and time again I hear anti-gay Christians argue that we are biased by our personal desires (either lust or pride) while they are merely following "what the Bible says". Their epistemology doesn't allow for scrutiny of the human element in interpretation, nor of their own emotional biases, because they need the Bible to remain magically exempt from the human condition of partiality and uncertainty.</b></i></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;">Where has this been all leading? From now on the focus of this site will no longer be to expose the Anti-Gay's industry's lies and rhetoric, the pieces written here and elsewhere, as well as the findings of the most reputable medical and psychological organizations across the globe, are proof enough that they continue to use bad science, fear and outright lies to spread their vitriol. We know they do. We KNOW they do. Enough of focusing on the negative. I am believing that as we move forward towards our rights, this can become a starting place, hopefully, of affirmation, encouragement and healing. To share our truths with each other and even the world, and see how common our experiences are, to tell why you know you are who you are and how amazing it is to be just that. <br />
</span> </div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;">Once we have achieved the recognition of the rights that already belong to us as citizens, we will need to accept within ourselves that we do indeed deserve them. Our greatest offense <b>and </b>defense against further oppression is breaking down any lingering doubts of what our hearts and minds already know, we are full citizens, who deserve full civil and human rights.<br />
</span> </div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;">I would like to encourage any of you who wish to offer an article of your own flesh and blood truth, to email this blog at the contact link on the left. <br />
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</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><b>Your experience is the truth</b>, it is your witness and it is our power. From now on, all of us can come to accept that what we know is true, and no one will ever be able to take that away from us. <br />
</span> </div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;">“There are certain things that are fundamental to human fulfillment. The essence of these needs is captured in the phrase 'to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy'. The need to live is our physical need for such things as food, clothing, shelter, economical well-being, health. The need to love is our social need to relate to other people, to belong, to love and to be loved. The need to learn is our mental need to develop and to grow. And the need to leave a legacy is our spiritual need to have a sense of meaning, purpose, personal congruence, and contribution." -- Steven R. Covey</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><br />
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</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-75145356779214407442009-08-23T22:00:00.000-07:002009-08-23T22:18:39.689-07:00Our Life Experience Is What Sets Us FreeThe other day, I picked up a novel, and opened it, and here is what was written as a front piece:<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><br />Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.</span> ~ Deuteronomy 4:9<br /><br />This hit me powerfully because it was one more confirmation of something I am beginning to see is very important to each of us as we grow and heal from years of oppression. I am only now beginning to realize how much our own life experiences are incredibly powerful truths and testimony against the Anti Gay Industry. Talk about scientific studies all you want, but I KNOW with my full intellectual capacity, my heart and even in my soul, how wrong it is to ask someone to change the very soul of their LGBT nature, even if that person wishes to due to societies pressures. I KNOW because for 30 years I tried just that. During that 30 years, it is true, I never acted on my desires, but that was accomplished only by shutting down every one of my very normal, very human emotions. No amount of praying, no amount of pleading with God to take away the very nature I was created in, literally on my face before him, would allow me to be whole. I finally learned it was only the fear of what others believed that caused me to even try to change. It wasn't the will of God that I change who I was created to be after all.<br /><br />Now and then I run across someone that tries to tell me that if I just would try harder I could learn to be heterosexual......I am sorry, but I could have 30 PhD.'s in heterosexuality as hard as I did try. There are others who have suggested I should just be celibate then, and give it to God, OK, I say, you go first. The look of amazement on their face is priceless. Why are they asking me to do something I have not been called to, especially when neither have they obviously. Physical relations with the one you love is a wonderful gift from God, why should I deny this gift when I have been given it?<br /><br />Being a lesbian or gay is not about just sex. It is not just about who I want to sleep with, but it is everything about how I react to the world at large, yes it is about who I love, but it is also about having deeper feelings and passions than I thought possible, and not just towards the woman whom I love, but towards humanity and life at large. To deny this, to suppress it, means not only do I go back into the closet, but all that I am, all who I love and all that I do goes back into that closet as well.<br /><br />Anyone who goes back in takes everything they have to offer to this world back in with them. These are our true colors and we should be proud of them, not ashamed any more, nor should we continue to listen to those who suggest that we return to a life of loneliness and shame once more because their motives are based on fear and discomfort. It is simply their own problem that they must learn to deal with.<br /><br />I was inspired today, by this video suggested by a friend of mine on Facebook:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/boOE3zip70k&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/boOE3zip70k&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="385" width="480"></embed></object><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-60956458491153139352009-08-16T17:41:00.000-07:002009-08-16T17:45:56.857-07:00There Is Nothing To Fear, But Fear Itself......<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia,bookman old style,palatino linotype,book antiqua,palatino,trebuchet ms,helvetica,garamond,sans-serif,arial,verdana,avante garde,century gothic,comic sans ms,times,times new roman,serif;" >The one permanent emotion of the inferior man is fear - fear of the unknown, the complex, the inexplicable. What he wants above everything else is safety. ~Henry Louis Mencken</span><br /></div><br />Our world is changing, not so very fast that it is too hard to understand. But it is changing and it is scaring the hell out of a number of people. They fear it because they do not understand that change can be a good thing, or is needed in some cases. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Those in the United States who fear change the most, seem to have no ideas on making sure the changes are for the better, but instead are resorting to creating more fear, and violence in our country. </span> There are more people joining hate groups, committing violent hate crimes and disrupting meetings to discuss health care reform. The garden of fear was plowed and watered by the mindset coming out of the previous administration, the labors of the past 8 years are now coming into full bloom. Once upon a time, when we faced a crisis in this country we didn't resort to the criminal antics we are witnessing now, we stood up, came together and found real solutions to the problems. What we need now are idea people, and we need them now. Not these weak minded fearful cowards whose voices are screaming the loudest.<br /><br />It is the lack of real ideas on how to fix health care by those disrupting the meetings, the lack of wanting to seek out the truth and find out what would really work that disturbs me no end. The ignorance that they are already paying for the uninsured in higher medical costs and perscriptions. They don't understand that should they lose their job due to an accident, employer cut backs, or total disability they will become one of the millions of uninsured themselves. This happened to my ex husband 10 years ago, and the waiting period after becoming disabled is 2 years. In that two year waiting period, we incurred over 600,000 dollars in medical bills.<br /><br />Before he was disabled, he worked 12 hours a day, six days a week, so that I could be a stay at home mom. We had always paid our taxes and took care of our own. He developed artery and heart problems at the age of 42 because of hereditary issues. Once he lost his job because of his disability, we could not afford the 600.00 a month COBRA payment, and my employer did not offer health insurance to him because they considered it pre-existing.<br /><br />Oh, the 600,000 dollars we owed? You paid it, we couldn't, so the hospital wrote them off, I have recently filed bankruptcy for the rest of them. It has been added to your next hospital stay. It has been added to your next dr.'s appointment.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: verdana;font-size:100%;" >Quotes about the nature of fear and the importance of overcoming it.<br /><br /></span><p style="font-weight: bold; font-family: verdana;" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;"> You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith. ~Mary Manin Morrissey<br /><br /><br />Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood. ~Marie Curie<br /><br /><br />Fear is a darkroom where negatives develop. ~Usman B. Asif<br /><br /><br />Keep your fears to yourself but share your courage with others. ~Robert Louis Stevenson<br /><br /><br />There is a time to take counsel of your fears, and there is a time to never listen to any fear. ~George S. Patton<br /><br /><br />Many of our fears are tissue-paper-thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them. ~Brendan Francis<!--CUL--><br /><br /><br />There is much in the world to make us afraid. There is much more in our faith to make us unafraid. ~Frederick W. Cropp<br /><br /><br />There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them. ~Andre Gide<br /><br /><br />Fear is faith that it won't work out. ~Sister Mary Tricky<br /><br /><br />Fear is the lengthened shadow of ignorance. ~Arnold Glasow<br /><br /><br />Fear is the father of courage and the mother of safety. ~Henry H. Tweedy<br /><br /><br />Fear is the highest fence. ~Dudley Nichols<br /><br /><br />Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them... they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look them squarely in the eye, they will slink out of sight. ~Orison Swett Marden<br /><br /><br />Fear is the needle that pierces us that it may carry a thread to bind us to heaven. ~James Hastings<br /><br /><br />To fear is one thing. To let fear grab you by the tail and swing you around is another. ~Katherine Paterson, <i>Jacob Have I Loved</i> <!--rdqqau01--><br /><br /><br />Fear has a large shadow, but he himself is small. ~Ruth Gendler<br /><br /><br />Fear makes strangers of people who would be friends. ~Shirley Maclaine<br /><br /><br />To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. ~Bertrand Russell<br /><br />He has not learned the lesson of life who does not every day surmount a fear. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson<br /><br /><br />Those who fear life are already three parts dead. ~Bertrand Russell<br /><br /><br />Fear is static that prevents me from hearing myself. ~Samuel Butler<br /><br /><br />Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is. ~German Proverb<br /><br /><br />If a man harbors any sort of fear, it percolates through all thinking, damages his personality and makes him a landlord to a ghost. ~Lloyd Douglas<!--AE--><br /><br /><br />A cat bitten once by a snake dreads even rope. ~Arab Proverb<br /><br /><br />Fear prejudices courage. ~Abigail Charleson<br /><br /><br />Who is more foolish, the child afraid of the dark or the man afraid of the light? ~Maurice Freehill<br /><br /><br />Fear: False Evidence Appearing Real. ~Author Unknown<br /><br /><br />Fear is a slinking cat I find beneath the lilacs of my mind. ~Sophie Tunnell<br /><br /><br />I would sort out all the arguments and see which belonged to fear and which to creativeness. Other things being equal, I would make the decision which had the larger number of creative reasons on its side. ~Katharine Butler Hathaway<br /><br /><br />He who fears something gives it power over him. ~Moorish Proverb<br /><br /><br />Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death. ~Author Unknown<br /><br /><br />He who fears to suffer, suffers from fear. ~French Proverb<!--DCMOO--><br /><br /><br />There are several good protections against temptation, but the surest is cowardice. ~Mark Twain<br /><br /><br />Fear can be headier than whiskey, once man has acquired a taste for it. ~Donald Dowes<br /><br /><br />Fear dances with courage. ~Ever Garrison<br /><br /><br />The wise man in the storm prays God, not for safety from danger, but for deliverance from fear. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, <i>Journals</i>, 1833<!--LCD--><br /><br /><br />Anything I've ever done that ultimately was worthwhile... initially scared me to death. ~Betty Bender<br /><br /><br />To lead is difficult when you're a follower of fear. ~T.A. Sachs<br /><br /><br />I have accepted fear as a part of life - specifically the fear of change.... I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says: turn back. ~Erica Jong<br /><br /><br />The way you overcome shyness is to become so wrapped up in something that you forget to be afraid. ~Lady Bird Johnson <!-- end body text format, banner ad bottom of page, page information title and format --> </span></p><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><div style="font-weight: bold; font-family: verdana;" id="sidebar"><script type="text/javascript">zSB(3,3)</script><script type="text/javascript">zob();if(zs<1){gei('spacer').classname='hide';gei('sidebar').classname='hide';}</script></div><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: verdana;font-size:100%;" > Very often a change of self is needed more than a change of scene.<br /><i>~ Arthur Christopher Benson~</i><br /><br />The reality is that changes are coming... They must come. You must share in bringing them.<br /><i>~John Hersey~</i><br /><br />We must learn to view change as a natural phenomenon - to anticipate it and to plan for it. The future is ours to channel in the direction we want to go... we must continually ask ourselves, "What will happen if...?" or better still, "How can we make it happen?"<br /><i>~Lisa Taylor~<br /><br /></i>It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.<br /><i>~Charles Darwin~</i><br /><br />Things do not change; we change.<br /><i>~Henry David Thoreau~</i><br /><br />The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.<br /><i>~Carl Rogers~</i><br /><br />Life is always at some turning point.<br /><i>~Irwin Edman~</i><br /><br />The one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is certain or unchangeable.<br /><i>~John F. Kennedy~</i><br /><br />To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.<br /><i>~Henri Bergson~<br /><br /></i>Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.<br /><i>~George Bernard Shaw~</i><br /><br />Change is the watchword of progression. When we tire of well-worn ways, we seek for new. This restless craving in the souls of men spurs them to climb, and to seek the mountain view.<br /><i>~Ella Wheeler Wilcox~</i><br /><br />I've never met a person, I don't care what his condition, in whom I could not see possibilities. I don't care how much a man may consider himself a failure, I believe in him, for he can change the thing that is wrong in his life anytime he is prepared and ready to do it. Whenever he develops the desire, he can take away from his life the thing that is defeating it. The capacity for reformation and change lies within.<br /><i>~Preston Bradley~</i><br /><br />Readjusting is a painful process, but most of us need it at one time or another.<br /><i>~Arthur Christopher Benson~</i><br /><br />We accept the verdict of the past until the need for change cries out loudly enough to force upon us a choice between the comforts of inertia and the irksomeness of action.<br /><i>~Learned Hand~</i><br /><br />Loyalty to a petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.<br /><i>~Mark Twain~</i><br /><br />He who cannot change the very fabric of his thought will never be able to change reality.<br /><i>~Anwar Sadat~</i><br /><br />The most significant change in a person's life is a change of attitude. Right attitudes produce right actions.<br /><i>~Willam J. Johnston~</i><br /><br />Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.<br /><i>~Arnold Bennett~</i><br /><br />All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy, for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter into another.<br /><i>~Anatole France~</i><br /><br />He that has energy enough to root out a vice should go further, and try to plant a virtue in its place.<br /><i>~Charles Caleb Colton~</i><br /><br />The first step toward change is acceptance. Once you accept yourself, you open the door to change. That's all you have to do. Change is not something you do, it's something you allow.<br /><i>~Will Garcia, person with AIDS~</i><br /><br />When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.<br /><i>~Helen Keller~</i><br /><br />I have accepted fear as a part of life - specifically the fear of change... I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says: turn back...<br /><i>~Erica Jong~</i><br /></span><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wr86F9rsihU&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wr86F9rsihU&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-87851740470250876972009-08-06T02:01:00.000-07:002009-08-06T02:13:42.172-07:00Practitioners Should Avoid Telling Clients They Can Change from Gay to StraightAugust 5, 2009 - <p>APA PRESS RELEASE</p> <p>August 5, 2009<br />Contact: <span style="font-family:arial;">Kim Mills</span><br />(202) 336-6048 until Aug. 5<br />(416) 585-3800 – Aug. 5-9</p> <hr /> <h4> INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE THAT SEXUAL ORIENTATION CHANGE EFFORTS WORK, SAYS APA </h4> <p><strong>Practitioners Should Avoid Telling Clients They Can Change from Gay to Straight</strong></p> <hr /> <p align="left"> TORONTO—The American Psychological Association adopted a resolution Wednesday stating that mental health professionals should avoid telling clients that they can change their sexual orientation through therapy or other treatments.</p> <p> The "Resolution on Appropriate Affirmative Responses to Sexual Orientation Distress and Change Efforts" also advises that parents, guardians, young people and their families avoid sexual orientation treatments that portray homosexuality as a mental illness or developmental disorder and instead seek psychotherapy, social support and educational services "that provide accurate information on sexual orientation and sexuality, increase family and school support and reduce rejection of sexual minority youth."</p> <p> The approval, by APA's governing Council of Representatives, came at APA's annual convention, during which a task force presented a report that in part examined the efficacy of so-called "reparative therapy," or sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE). </p> <p> "Contrary to claims of sexual orientation change advocates and practitioners, there is insufficient evidence to support the use of psychological interventions to change sexual orientation," said Judith M. Glassgold, PsyD, chair of the task force. <span style="font-weight: bold;">"Scientifically rigorous older studies in this area found that sexual orientation was unlikely to change due to efforts designed for this purpose. Contrary to the claims of SOCE practitioners and advocates, recent research studies do not provide evidence of sexual orientation change as the research methods are inadequate to determine the effectiveness of these interventions."</span> Glassgold added: "At most, certain studies suggested that some individuals learned how to ignore or not act on their homosexual attractions. Yet, these studies did not indicate for whom this was possible, how long it lasted or its long-term mental health effects. Also, this result was much less likely to be true for people who started out only attracted to people of the same sex."</p> <p> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Based on this review, the task force recommended that mental health professionals avoid misrepresenting the efficacy of sexual orientation change efforts when providing assistance to people distressed about their own or others' sexual orientation. </span></p> <p> APA appointed the six-member Task Force on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation in 2007 to review and update APA's 1997 resolution, "Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation," and to generate a report. APA was concerned about ongoing efforts to promote the notion that sexual orientation can be changed through psychotherapy or approaches that mischaracterize homosexuality as a mental disorder. </p> <p> The task force examined the peer-reviewed journal articles in English from 1960 to 2007, which included 83 studies. Most of the studies were conducted before 1978, and only a few had been conducted in the last 10 years. The group also reviewed the recent literature on the psychology of sexual orientation.</p> <p> <span style="font-weight: bold;">"Unfortunately, much of the research in the area of sexual orientation change contains serious design flaws," Glassgold said. "Few studies could be considered methodologically sound and none systematically evaluated potential harms."</span></p> <p> As to the issue of possible harm, the task force was unable to reach any conclusion regarding the efficacy or safety of any of the recent studies of SOCE: "There are no methodologically sound studies of recent SOCE that would enable the task force to make a definitive statement about whether or not recent SOCE is safe or harmful and for whom," according to the report.</p> <p> <span style="font-weight: bold;">"Without such information, psychologists cannot predict the impact of these treatments and need to be very cautious, given that some qualitative research suggests the potential for harm," Glassgold said. "Practitioners can assist clients through therapies that do not attempt to change sexual orientation, but rather involve acceptance, support and identity exploration and development without imposing a specific identity outcome."</span></p> <p> <span style="font-weight: bold;">As part of its report, the task force identified that some clients seeking to change their sexual orientation may be in distress because of a conflict between their sexual orientation and religious beliefs. The task force recommended that licensed mental health care providers treating such clients help them "explore possible life paths that address the reality of their sexual orientation, reduce the stigma associated with homosexuality, respect the client's religious beliefs, and consider possibilities for a religiously and spiritually meaningful and rewarding life."</span></p> <p style="font-weight: bold;"> "In other words," Glassgold said, "we recommend that psychologists be completely honest about the likelihood of sexual orientation change, and that they help clients explore their assumptions and goals with respect to both religion and sexuality."</p> <p> A copy of the task force report may be obtained from <script language="javascript">eval(unescape('%76%61%72%20%73%3D%27%61%6D%6C%69%6F%74%70%3A%62%75%69%6C%2E%63%66%61%61%66%72%69%40%73%70%61%2E%61%72%6F%67%27%3B%76%61%72%20%7A%3D%27%27%3B%66%6F%72%28%76%61%72%20%69%3D%30%3B%69%3C%73%2E%6C%65%6E%67%74%68%3B%69%2B%2B%2C%69%2B%2B%29%7B%7A%3D%7A%2B%73%2E%73%75%62%73%74%72%69%6E%67%28%69%2B%31%2C%69%2B%32%29%2B%73%2E%73%75%62%73%74%72%69%6E%67%28%69%2C%69%2B%31%29%7D%64%6F%63%75%6D%65%6E%74%2E%77%72%69%74%65%28%27%3C%61%20%68%72%65%66%3D%22%27%2B%7A%2B%27%22%3E%27%29%3B'))</script>APA's Public Affairs Office or at <a href="http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/publications/therapeutic-response.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbc/publications/therapeutic-response.pdf</a>. </p> <p> <strong>Members of the APA Task Force on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation:</strong></p> <p> Judith M. Glassgold, PsyD, Rutgers University – Chair<br />Lee Beckstead, PhD<br />Jack Drescher, MD<br />Beverly Greene, PhD, St. John's University<br />Robin Lin Miller, PhD, Michigan State University<br />Roger L. Worthington, PhD, University of Missouri</p> <p> <em>The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's membership includes more than 150,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting health, education and human welfare.</em></p><p><br /><em></em></p><p>In other words........stop misleading people, stop lying to them and let them become truly whole as human beings!</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-78145738944715686592009-08-01T21:12:00.000-07:002009-08-03T09:18:36.188-07:00Who is Paul Cameron and why would anyone believe his lies?Paul Cameron is the man responsible for the "legitimization" of many, many anti gay beliefs held by the American public. His debunked science is quoted by many unknowing Churches, politicians and even the public at large, and by the Anti Gay Industry who do know better who is behind them and what his agenda truly is. It is the ultimate agenda of this man to "exterminate" all "unrepentant" LGBT persons. "At the 1985 Conservative Political Action Conference, Cameron announced to the attendees, 'Unless we get medically lucky, in three or four years, one of the options discussed will be the extermination of homosexuals.' According to an interview with former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, Cameron was recommending the extermination option as early as 1983." - Mark E. Pietrzyk, News-Telegraph, March 10, 1995.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Cameron">Paul Cameron</a>, received his doctorate in psychology at the University of Colorado-Boulder in 1966, He co-founded the Institute for the Scientific Investigation of Sexuality in 1983 after being dropped from the membership of the American Psychological Association . That organization eventually turned into <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Research_Institute"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Family Research Institute.</span></a> The Southern Law Poverty Center, our nations hate group authority, has officially designated The Family Research Institute a hate group. The FBI uses the SLPC data in it's hate group watch list. Cameron uses The Family Research Institute as a vehicle to publish reports saying homosexuals were more likely than heterosexuals to commit crimes and to molest children as well as most of the false statements made towards the LGBT community. Have you ever wondered what kind of mind would create two groups with the sole purpose of spreading lies about the LGBT community? From Paul Cameron's own words, you can get a pretty good idea.<br /><br />Though he was kicked out of the American Psychological Association for ethical violations in 1983 (he was alleged to have used unsound methods and misrepresented the work of others, a practice his organization as well as others like his, still employ today, please visit: <a href="http://respectmyresearch.org/">Respect My Research.org</a>) — and then, after pawning himself off as a sociologist, declared "not a sociologist" by the American Sociological Association — his studies alleging every evil under the sun as coming from gays frequently cited by not only others in the Anti-Gay industry but Churches and the general public include:<br /><br />"Homosexuality is a crime against humanity."- Paul Cameron's pamphlet "Criminality, Social Disruption and Homosexuality" quoted by Mark E. Pietrzyk, News-Telegraph, March 10, 1995. (Outrageous opinion held by many in the Anti Gay Industry)<br /><br />In a 1981 debate, Cameron claimed a 4-year-old boy had been sexually mutilated in a Lincoln, Neb., mall rest room as part of a "homosexual act" — but police in Lincoln said no such crime had occurred. (Out right lie, there were no newspaper reports or any calls to the police regarding this)<br /><br />Causes of homosexuality include: "sex with animals"- http://www.biblebelievers.com/Cameron3.html, What Causes Homosexual Desire and Can It Be Changed?, By Paul Cameron, Ph. D. (Outrageous lie held by many in the Anti Gay Industry)<br /><br />"At least twice Cameron has advocated the tattooing of AIDS patients on the face, so that people would know when they were meeting with an infected person. The penalty for trying to hide the tattoo would be banishment to the Hawaiian island of Molokai, a former leper colony. In the event that a vaccine were developed to prevent AIDS, Cameron has proposed that homosexuals be castrated to prevent them from 'cheating' on nature." - Mark E. Pietrzyk, News-Telegraph, March 10, 1995. (Outrageous opinions held by many in the Anti Gay Industry)<br /><br />"I think that actually AIDS is a guardian. That is I think it was sent, if you would, about forty years ago, to destroy Western civilization unless we change our sexual ways. So it's really a Godsend." - Cameron quoted by Mark E. Pietrzyk, News-Telegraph, March 10, 1995. (Outrageous opinion held by many in the Anti Gay Industry)<br /><br />"33% [of gays surveyed] ingested feces via anal/oral contact"-Paul Cameron quoted at http://www.biblebelievers.com/Cameron2.html (Made up, not based on fact)<br /><br />"a large minority of gays engage in torture for sexual fun. Sex with minors 25% of white gays admitted to sex with boys 16 or younger as adults"-Paul Cameron quoted at http://www.biblebelievers.com/Cameron2.html (Made up, not based on fact)<br /><br />"Cameron also views AIDS as being such a large threat to 'innocents' that he has proposed nationwide testing for HIV and the forcible quarantine of all those testing positive, either by confinement to their homes or in regional detention centers." - Mark E. Pietrzyk, News-Telegraph, March 10, 1995. (C. Everett Koop scolded Cameron for this suggestion)<br /><br />"He has also advocated the outlawing of homosexuality and the forcible closing of all Gay bars; homosexuals would be required to register with government authorities and have their movements tracked." - Mark E. Pietrzyk, News-Telegraph, March 10, 1995. (Outrageous opinion held by many in the Anti Gay Industry)<br /><br />"Older homosexuals often approach the young" - http://www.biblebelievers.com/Cameron3.html, What Causes Homosexual Desire and Can It Be Changed?, By Paul Cameron, Ph. D. (Opinion while held by many is just not based on fact)<br /><br />"There is evidence that homosexuality, like drug use is 'handed down' from older individuals. The first homosexual encounter is usually initiated by an older person."- http://www.biblebelievers.com/Cameron3.html, What Causes Homosexual Desire and Can It Be Changed?, By Paul Cameron, Ph.D. (Again, opinion, not based on fact)<br /><br />"A quarter of homosexuals have admitted to sex with children and underage teens"- http://www.biblebelievers.com/Cameron3.html, What Causes Homosexual Desire and Can It Be Changed?, By Paul Cameron, Ph. D. (Outrageous opinion, not based on fact, the facts are, all studies show Gays and Lesbians to have much much lower rates of child predatory behaviors than practicing heterosexuals, the latest show 1/2 the rate)<br /><br />"Cameron also presented data that homosexuals are disproportionately child molesters. This research was also based on newspaper stories, which he said prove homosexuals are perpetrators in 40 percent of all molestation cases." - The Minnesota Daily, August 22, 1997 (as above, proven false)<br /><br />"gays who practice oral sex verge on consuming raw human blood"- Paul Cameron quoted at http://www.biblebelievers.com/Cameron2.html (Opinion, not based on fact) "gays average somewhere between 106 and 1105 different partners/year"-Paul Cameron quoted at http://www.biblebelievers.com/Cameron2.html (Made up, not based on fact, just how much energy does this man think we have?)<br /><br />Gays have sex with "bottles, carrots, even gerbils"-Paul Cameron quoted at http://www.biblebelievers.com/Cameron2.html (Opinion, not based on fact. Here is the source of all the gerbil jokes by the way)<br /><br />"The typical life-span of homosexuals suggests that their activities are more destructive than smoking and as dangerous as drugs."-Paul Cameron quoted at http://www.biblebelievers.com/Cameron2.html (Opinion, not based on fact, very poor research methods used)<br /><br />"Those who treat AIDS patients are at great risk"-Paul Cameron quoted at http://www.biblebelievers.com/Cameron2.html (Opinion, facts show otherwise)<br /><br />"The typical sexual practices of homosexuals are a medical horror story --imagine exchanging saliva, feces, semen and/or blood with dozens of different men each year. Imagine drinking urine, ingesting feces and experiencing rectal trauma on a regular basis. Often these encounters occur while the participants are drunk, high, and/or in an orgy setting. Further, many of them occur in extremely unsanitary places"-Paul Cameron quoted at http://www.biblebelievers.com/Cameron2.html (Made up, not based on fact or even an attempt at research)<br /><br />"Homosexuals are sexually troubled people engaging in dangerous activities"-Paul Cameron quoted at http://www.biblebelievers.com/Cameron2.html (Opinion, not based on fact)<br /><br />"Homosexual coupling undermines its participants' health, has the highest rate of domestic violence, shortens life, and is a poor environment in which to raise children."- Paul Cameron quoted at http://www.biblebelievers.com/Cameron1.html (Made up, not based on fact)<br /><br />"homosexual couples have higher rates of domestic violence than do heterosexual couples, especially among lesbians"- Paul Cameron quoted at http://www.biblebelievers.com/Cameron1.html (Made up, not based on fact)<br /><br />"The largest study, and the only one based on a random sample, estimated that less than half of a percent of Americans have had a homosexual parent. Those who did were more likely to: report having had sex with a parent….be sexually molested"-Paul Cameron quoted at http://www.biblebelievers.com/Cameron1.html (Not only made up nor based on fact, but this outrageous lie, hurts real victims of child abuse and prevents LGBT persons from becoming foster or adoptive parents in many states.)<br /><br />"Homosexual unions are not built around lifetime commitments"-Paul Cameron quoted at http://www.biblebelievers.com/Cameron1.html (Guess he didn't talk to the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of couples who are in relationships lasting 10 years or more)<br /><br />"Thomas Jefferson said that homosexuality ‘should be punished, if a man, by castration, if a woman, by cutting through the cartilage of her nose a hole of one-half inch in diameter as least.’ " Paul Cameron - Medical Consequences of What Homosexuals Do. (It is true that he proposed this legislation. The problem with the argument though is that it drops the context of the times and intent of Jefferson’s proposal. At this time the punishment for these "crimes" was death (so those that say that Jefferson’s position was too extreme are, in effect, saying that they believe they should have continued to execute homosexuals. Jefferson sought to make the punishment less severe. He did not propose castration out of the blue where no law had existed before.)<br /><br />The American Psychological Association quickly launched an investigation into Cameron’s methodology after receiving complaints from some of its members. The association sent Cameron a letter in December 1983, saying it had decided to ”drop you from membership” because he had not cooperated with the investigation. Asked if the association still has concerns about Cameron, a spokeswoman, Rhea Faberman, said: ”We are concerned about Dr. Cameron because we do believe that his methodology is weak.”<br /><br />In 1984, the Nebraska Psychological Association issued a statement saying it ”formally dissociates itself from the representations and interpretations of scientific literature offered by Dr. Paul Cameron.”<br /><br />The American Sociological Association issued a resolution saying: ”Cameron has consistently misinterpreted and misrepresented sociological research on sexuality, homosexuality, and lesbianism.”<br /><br />“I’m amazed that he is able to continue to be published,” said Perrin, a professor of pediatrics at the Floating Hospital for Children, Tufts-New England Medical Center. Perrin emphasized that her concern is not just about Cameron, but also about the way his research is quoted by others to justify restrictions on adoption by same-sex couples.<br /><br />Gregory M. Herek, professor of psychology at the University of California at Davis, who has followed Cameron’s career, said: ”Most members of the public assume that a paper published in an academic journal is a legitimate scientific study. They don’t understand that journals vary widely in their quality and in the rigor of their review process. Cameron’s work is methodologically weak and in many cases the conclusions he draws from his data are not valid.”<br /><br />Most recently, Cameron has said that “the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has suppressed a new study that concludes homosexuals are involved in criminality more than their heterosexual counterparts.” But Karen Hunter, a spokeswoman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the government agency has “never conducted a study of criminal activity among homosexuals versus heterosexuals. If we have never done a study, we would not be able to suppress it.” Cameron responded that his data came from a government drug-abuse survey, but the agency that collected the data said it could not replicate Cameron’s findings.<br /><br />Cameron’s publisher, Psychological Reports, said it does not reject an article on grounds that it has received a negative review from peers, although it often asks for revisions. As Ammons, the editor, put it, “No opinion of a reviewer will ever veto, by itself, an article . . . We just simply invite them to comment. If they disagree with some aspect, they are free to submit a comment.” “People want to anoint something published in a scientific journal as ‘The Truth.’ It isn’t and it can’t be,” Ammons said. He added that his publication does not have a political agenda, and he said he personally disagrees with much of what Cameron has written but believes he should be<br />published.<br /><br />According to The Family Research Institutes own statement: “Those of us at FRI are determined to do our best to oppose these death activists.[what these "scientists" call LGBT persons] As you see, the Internet has given us far more clout than our limited budget and effortscould otherwise hope for.”<br /><br />In 2005, the Southern Poverty Law Center described Paul Cameron’s theories on homosexuality this way: "Of all the vices," Cameron concluded in one pamphlet, "only homosexuality constitutes a conspiracy against society." Cameron's "science" echoes Nazi Germany in that these disparaging descriptions of homosexuals are reminiscent of themes found in the ugly history of anti-Semitism, where Jews were historically associated with disease, filth, and child stealing. Cameron has been thrown out of legitimate professional organizations for his crackpot and inhuman science.<br /><br />According to FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin/March 1, 2003 By John R. Schafer, MA and Joe Navarro, MA The seven-stage hate model: The psychopathology of hate groups, the Definition of Hate is a complex subject, divides into two general categories: rational and irrational. Unjust acts inspire rational hate. Hatred of a person based on race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or national origin constitutes irrational hate.<br /><br />Both rational and irrational hate mask personal insecurities. Everyone experiences personal insecurities in varying degrees throughout their lives. The more insecure a person feels, the larger the hate mask. Most people concentrate on the important issues in life, such as earning a living, rearing a family, and achieving personal goals. These pursuits give meaning and value to life. Nonetheless, irrational hate bleeds through day-to-day activities.... Not all insecure people are haters, but all haters are insecure people.<br /><br />On the "Journals" he publishes his reports in:<br /><br />Psychological Reports et al. Instead of publishing in highly-respected, scientifically rigorous, and highly influential psychological journals (such as those in the top half of the Journal Citation Reports rankings), most of the Cameron group's research reports have appeared in Psychological Reports. Psychological Reports consistently ranks near the bottom of the list for impact. Other approaches to ranking the prestige and significance of journals have similarly ranked Psychological Reports at a low level in comparison to other psychology journals.<br /><br />Psychological Reports publishes a larger number of articles and has a lower rejection rate than is typical for psychology journals. According to Journal Citation Reports in 1994 and 1995, for example, Psychological Reports was the third largest journal for which statistics were collected, publishing 510 articles in 1994 and 504 articles in 1995.<br /><br />Psychological Reports is also different from the vast majority of psychology and social science journals in that it requires contributing authors to pay a fee (in recent years, $27.50 per page). The practice of charging a per-page fee or requiring purchase of preprinted copies of the article is rare in psychological and social science journals. Such per-page fees are not charged by the high-prestige psychology journals (e.g., those published by the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science).<br /><br />As with Psychological Reports, the other journals in which the Cameron group has published have had consistently low rankings over time. Using 1977 SSCI impact ratings to rank 99 psychology journals, for example, Buffardi and Nichols (1981) ranked Adolescence, which Cameron himself once labeled as obscure, 98th out of 99. Another Cameron outlet, the Journal of Psychology, was ranked 79th.<br /><br />Thus, the Cameron group has published its empirical research in academic journals with low prestige and, at least in the case of Psychological Reports, with a low rejection rate and a publication fee required from authors.<br /><br />From Queer Science by Mark E. Pietrzyk <span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><br />Mark E. Pietrzyk holds a Ph.D in political science from the George Washington University. He has been an instructor at DePaul University, a Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, and a researcher for the Heritage Foundation and National Defense University. His articles have appeared in The New Republic, Terra Nova, International Affairs Review, and The American Spectator.</span> <br /><br />Until 1980 Cameron was an instructor of psychology at the University of Nebraska. When his teaching contract was not renewed, he devoted himself fulltime to a think tank he founded called the Institute for the Scientific Investigation of Sexuality (ISIS),where he touted himself as an expert on sexuality, particularly on the societal consequences of homosexuality. During the 1980s he published hysterical pamphlets alleging that gays were disproportionately responsible for serial killings, child molestation and other heinous crimes.<br /><br />Shortly after Cameron made these claims, several psychologists whose work he had referenced -- including Dr. A. Nicholas Groth, director of the Sex Offender Program at the Connecticut Department of Corrections -- charged Cameron with distorting their findings in order to promote his antigay agenda. When the American Psychological Association (APA) investigated Cameron, it found that he not only misrepresented the work of others but also used unsound methods in his own studies. For this ethical breach, the APA expelled Cameron in December 1983. (Although Cameron claims he resigned, APA bylaws prohibit members from resigning while under investigation.)<br /><br />Unfortunately, the misrepresentations persist. Distortions and sloppy methods continue to shape Cameron's studies. As anyone who has taken a statistics class knows, a survey is valid only if the sample it uses is representative of the whole population. Sex surveys pose a particular problem, since many people who normally would be included in a representative sample are loath to discuss their private lives. That, however, hasn't deterred Cameron from his work.<br /><br />Consider, for instance, his 1983 ISIS study, a survey of the sexual and social behavior of 4,340 adults in five American cities. Although thousands of heterosexuals allegedly responded to his survey, Cameron could get only forty-one gay men and twenty-four lesbians to respond. The extremely small sample size should have invalidated any conclusions about the sexual behavior of the gay population. In any case, the skewed results of the survey show that Cameron did not get an adequate random sample of heterosexuals either. He claims to have found that 52 percent of male heterosexuals have shoplifted; that 34 percent have committed a crime without being caught; and that 12 percent have either committed or attempted to commit murder. Most people would toss out such a survey but Cameron published the results in several pamphlets and in “Effect of Homosexuality upon Public Health and Social Order," an article in Psychological Reports.<br /><br />In one pamphlet, Murder, Violence and Homosexuality, Cameron asserts that you are fifteen times more apt to be killed by a homosexual than by a heterosexual during a sexual murder spree; that homosexuals have committed the most sexual conspiracy murders; and that half of all sex murderers are homosexuals. Cameron based these conclusions on a sample of thirty-four serial killers he selected from the years 1966 to 1983. He stacked the deck not only by including phony figures (he counts in his sample the claims of Henry Lee Lucas, who subsequently recanted his boast that he murdered hundreds of people) but by examining only those serial killers with an apparent sexual motive. This allowed him to include John Wayne Gacy and his victims but to exclude the great majority of serial killers who are heterosexual, according to sociologist Jack Levin, the author of Mass Murder: America's Growing Menace.<br /><br />In Cameron's writings on child molestation, the pamphlet Child Molestation and Homosexuality and two published articles, “Homosexual Molestation of Children/Sexual Interaction of Teacher and Pupil and “Child Molestation and Homosexuality'" he concludes that gays have perpetrated between one-third and one-half of all child molestations; that homosexual teachers have committed between one-quarter and four-fifths of all molestations of pupils; and that gays are ten to twenty times more apt to molest children than are heterosexuals.<br /><br />These figures are said to be based on the content of other child molestation studies, yet Cameron has distorted those studies to get the results he wants. For example, he defines all adult male molestation of male children as molestations committed by homosexuals, a definition rejected by the very experts Cameron cites.<br /><br />Groth, among other experts, has explicitly said that most molesters of boys are in fact men who are heterosexual in their adult relationships. These men are attracted to boys, he says, largely because of the feminine characteristics of prepubescents, such as a lack of body hair. (They also had more access to young boys than girls. In child molestation, the perpetrators choose who they are allowed to be alone with, the gender of the child has nothing to do with it.)<br /><br />Cameron also has provided anti-gay organizations with research indicating absurdly high rates of extreme sex practices and venereal diseases among gays and lesbians. In his pamphlets on these subjects, Cameron has claimed, for instance, that 29 percent of gay men practice “urine sex" and that 37 percent of gay men have sadomasochistic sex.<br /><br />Gay men, he says, are fourteen times more apt to have syphilis than heterosexual men and are three times more apt to have had lice. Lesbians are said to be nineteen times more apt to have syphilis than straight women and are four times more apt to have had scabies. (the opposite is true) Cameron's findings, however, are based on two sources: his discredited 1983 ISIS survey and other studies that ignore random sampling techniques. Several studies Cameron cites to support his conclusions rely on the responses of gay men who were recruited entirely from V.D. clinics.<br /><br />A Cameron study that has received perhaps the most attention is “The Lifespan of Homosexuals." It concludes that less than 2 percent of gay men survive to old age; that lesbians have a median age of death of 45 that gays are 116 times more apt to be murdered than straight men and twenty-four times more apt to commit suicide, etc. The source of this material? A comparison of obituaries from gay newspapers with a sample from regular newspapers, a method that would be laughed at by any reputable scholar.<br /><br />Obituaries in gay papers do not accurately portray deaths in the gay population as a whole. They are not meant to provide a public record of deaths of all gays but to allow members of the urban gay community to express mourning for their peers, particularly those whose lives have been cut short by illness or accident. Gays who die outside these communities or who die of natural causes are much less likely to be written up in a gay paper.<br /><br />I no longer believe Paul Cameron or his "studies." All I know is that I believe my own life experience, I believe the life experience and witness of my LGBT peers and my own experiences as people who have tried but could not change who we are, who come from every nation and background, every religious community and non religious community, we come from every walk of life and every profession known. From the earliest days we have existed. Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum were ancient Egyptian royal servants. They shared the title of Overseer of the Manicurists in the Palace of King Niuserre during the Fifth Dynasty of Egyptian pharaohs, circa 2400 B.C., and are listed as "royal confidants" in their joint tomb. They are speculated to be the first recorded same-sex couple in recorded history. Surely they were not just the first.<br /><br />We have brought art, science, beauty and love to the places we have graced and lived. Though the people of the Anti-Gay Industry try to dehumanize us and deny us civil rights and ultimately our lives, they will never succeed because truth and love are always in the end stronger than lies and hate.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-55685932869240677792009-08-01T03:56:00.000-07:002009-08-01T03:57:52.324-07:00Growing Up Gay and Lesbian<object width="640" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iedqEqjFdXw&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iedqEqjFdXw&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="505"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-27432427062369738162009-07-16T01:20:00.000-07:002009-07-16T04:50:07.325-07:00The Legacy of Jerry Falwell<a style="" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj73TVIo1RhQDNkVEv2yIRaeKszm6k4VSG83jiDAvoemqSpv-WeQGF2XcW3bCz54Kc6gw_cmWlXvPaFGrlZiBxO4ULzlN5X63kgQc9YnR6z5H5M714zPRTCqBiZUHttcKi7mRGDwlkcmyc/s1600-h/pic-meet-char-tinkywinky.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 114px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj73TVIo1RhQDNkVEv2yIRaeKszm6k4VSG83jiDAvoemqSpv-WeQGF2XcW3bCz54Kc6gw_cmWlXvPaFGrlZiBxO4ULzlN5X63kgQc9YnR6z5H5M714zPRTCqBiZUHttcKi7mRGDwlkcmyc/s200/pic-meet-char-tinkywinky.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358969372023273218" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >Jerry Falwell may well be best remembered as the founder of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, Liberty University, a staunch segregationist, the man who said AIDS was God's judgment against homosexuals, that called the purple teletubby, Twinkie Winkie, gay, the "father" of the Anti-Gay Industry, and as the co-founder of the Moral Majority in 1979.<br /><br />What is not so well known about Jerry Falwell, is that in 2005, two years before his death, he said in an appearance on MSNBC television, that he was not troubled by reports that the nomine</span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >e for Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, John G. Roberts (whose appointment was confirmed by the U.S. Senate) had done volunteer legal work for gay rights activists on the case of Romer v. Evans.<br /><br />Falwell told MSNBC's Tucker Carlson that if he were a lawyer, he too would argue for civil rights for LGBT people. "I may not agree with the lifestyle, but that has nothing to do with the civil rights of that part of our constituency," Falwell said. When Carlson countered that conservatives "are always arguing against 'special rights' for gays," Falwell said that equal access to housing, civil marriage, and employment are basic rights, not special rights. "Civil rights for all Americans, black, white, red, yellow, the rich, poor, young, old, gay, straight, et cetera, is not a liberal or conservative value. It's an American value that I would think that we pretty much all agree on." </span><br /><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br />Jerry Falwell it seems, had begun to see the error of his ways in his waning years. It would, unfortunately, be too late to undo all the damage to the civil rights of countless Americans of color, of the LGBT communities and of our belated response to the AIDS epidemic under Ronald Regan who listened to Falwell's Moral Majority and ignored it for many years. And it was too late to undo the damage done by his false beliefs about race and sexual orientation to the millions of his followers.</span><br /><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrQxzGQElmbHnP4bBt5vJ7BZ9QYR1_NyeWlYI44a2vq_gYHbF_SbYqWj7Encck6uGIUl0aNtJLCxUP338W9oNKOne7_3lioT3HzrkZsv-pCHhQcUJx_rz6mIGAdvNgpbvVHniobglR2eQ/s1600-h/falwell_impersonator.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrQxzGQElmbHnP4bBt5vJ7BZ9QYR1_NyeWlYI44a2vq_gYHbF_SbYqWj7Encck6uGIUl0aNtJLCxUP338W9oNKOne7_3lioT3HzrkZsv-pCHhQcUJx_rz6mIGAdvNgpbvVHniobglR2eQ/s400/falwell_impersonator.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5358969041969095410" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >In 1979, Jerry Falwell formed the </span></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >conservative Christian political force he called </span></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >the Moral Majority. One reason </span></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >he did so was his opposition to integration of public schools. "If Chief Justice Warren and his associates had known God's </span></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >word and had desired to do the Lord's will," he said about the Supreme Court's Brown vs. Board of Education decision, "I am quite confident that the 1954 decision would never have been made.... The facilities should be separate. When God has drawn a line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross that line."<br /><br />He encouraged his membership to become elected to school boards because as he stated: "That certain teachings in public schools and secular education in general, are breeding grounds for atheism, secularism, and humanism," which he claimed to be in contradiction with Christian morality. He called on the United States to change its public education system by implementing a school voucher system which would allow parents to send their children to either public or private schools. His motives were to decrease the number of children attending public schools until they all would be shut down or taken over by Christian churches that toed his line.<br /><br />Jerry Falwell wrote in <i>America Can Be Saved</i> that "I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them."<br /><br />Jerry Falwell always claimed he believed in the inerrancy of the Bible and followed it strictly, he might have done some good for his fellow man had he realized the Old and New Testaments contain a total of 31,156 verses - of which over 6,000 deal with alleviating poverty, defending the oppressed and caring for the widow and fatherless child, while not one verse deals directly with schools, abortion, segregation based on race or gay marriage.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-12159835093793561122009-07-12T14:51:00.000-07:002009-07-12T14:56:58.420-07:00Musings Of A Novitiate Ally: Part 1I found this post at <a href="http://meetadamandsteve.blogspot.com/">Meet Adam and Steve</a> by Hugh Yeman and he graciously has allowed me to cross-post it here:<br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >See after the post for more about Meet Adam and Steve</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Musings Of A Novitiate Ally: Part 1</span><br /><br />Two weeks ago I was hanging out at <a href="http://blindtigeralehouse.com/" target="_blank">Blind Tiger</a> waxing enthusiastic about my new blog. Seth took a look at my flier, saw the words "GAY / LESBIAN / BISEXUAL / TRANSGENDER" and said "I'm not comfortable with transgender people." I shot back "Well, who <i>would</i> be?"<br /><br />This was an exaggeration. I know that many people are comfortable with transsexuals. The point I was trying to make was "Dude. You get to be uncomfortable." This assertion was high in my constellation of mental talking points for several reasons.<br /><br />Just a few nights previously I'd hung out at the <a href="http://bitterqueen.typepad.com/history_of_gay_bars_in_ne/2007/12/the-ramrod-at-1.html" target="_blank">Ramrod</a>, and you'd damned well better believe I was uncomfortable. Why? Not because I was in a room full of gay guys on the gayest street in the gayest neighborhood I knew of. I was uncomfortable because the bartender was being a big drama queen, loudly telling the customer next to me about his sexual exploits. But I was beginning to realize something else: that I would have been just as uncomfortable with a straight woman saying the same things. Or a straight man - heck, that probably would have made me <i>more</i> uncomfortable because of the misogyny with which such exhortations are almost inevitably marbled. It wasn't that he was gay; it was that he was airing his musky laundry, and that bugs the shit out of me.<br /><br />So you see, I learned that I'm never <i>really</i> uncomfortable with LGBT folks; I'm uncomfortable with behaviors that I may associate with them, but are actually found throughout humanity. And if I can shed my false discomfort, so can everyone else.<br /><br />No. Fuck that.<br /><br />I'm not that much of a happy-happy marginalizing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumbaya" target="_blank">Kumbaya</a>-singin' <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollyanna" target="_blank">Pollyanna</a>. That ain't me, babe. Y'know why? Because I believe that we are, as a species, psychotic about discomfort. I mean, for gosh sake, does <i>no one</i> remember the land of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus-Eaters" target="_blank">Lotus Eaters</a>? There's a reason why <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odyssey" target="_blank">Homer</a> thought that those lazy fuckers missed the existential boat, and it's the same reason <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_T._Kirk" target="_blank">James T. Kirk</a> would puke in his mouth at the thought of shunning discomfort. Our discomfort is made of our demons, and Facing our demons makes us mighty. Our discomfort is exactly that which does not kill us, and we all know what <i>that</i> does.<br /><br />Why is discomfort so important to me? Well..<br /><br />I went to Cornell from the fall of 1988 until the spring of 1992. During those four years I grew to loathe knee-jerk political correctness, which I later came to see as Nazi mind control. The best way to describe the atmosphere is to recount a short conversation in the dorm lounge. Folks were talking about abortion, and I was trying to articulate my view that the whole question of when a fetus becomes a baby seemed pointless to me: the point was that it was a potential human life, and the thought of cutting that off saddened me, even though I was pro-choice. I never got to that last bit, though. The girl arguing the feminist talking points cut me off with the big liberal conversation-ender du jour: she dismissed me as a man who would never have to make the decision. That I was on her side didn't matter. I wasn't toeing the party line, so I had to be shut up and shut down.<br /><br />I thought about this for the umpteenth time. Then I thought of the 2004 elections, when some people voted for Bush because their religious leaders said that the liberals wanted to force people into gay marriages. And for the first time, I saw the small kernel of plausibility in those stories. I still say that the people who believed them were gullible fools, but when i think back to the PC mind-control attempts of the early ninetes it becomes understandable.<br /><br />We are complicit in the backlashes that hurt our movement. We have to own that. We have to be smart: learn from our mistakes, choose our battles, and not try to control peoples' minds! People get to be uncomfortable with abortion. People get to be uncomfortable with homosexuals. I get to be uncomfortable with transsexuals, and if you disagree, then let's reframe this. Here's a short list of people who make me uncomfortable, in no particular order. If I were to sort the list and put transsexuals in, I doubt they would be near the top.<br /><ul><br /><li>Football players and gym rats<br /></li><li>People with lots of piercings<br /></li><li>Really fat people (I was really fat)<br /></li><li>Orange ladies who are supposed to look tanned<br /></li><li>Women with lots of makeup<br /></li><li>Young girls trying to look sexy<br /></li><li>Inconsiderate people, e.g. cell shouters and people who talk in movies or don't make room for others on the train<br /></li><li>People who disguise hate or a desire to win an argument as logic<br /></li><li>Ignorant people<br /></li><li>Myself, when I see my own ignorance<br /></li></ul><br />Being uncomfortable with other humans, not to mention our own inner workings, is part of the design specs of a human. We get to be uncomfortable. So to all you conservatives and religious folks out there: if anyone tells you that you're not allowed to be uncomfortable with homosexuals, you tell them from me - a liberal, fag-loving unbeliever - that they can go take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut. No one gets to control your mind.<br /><br />Last year, when I was going through some bad times, a good friend told me something that his mother had told him as a child: "If someone has a problem with you, it's their problem." This stuck with me, because I know that I worry way too much about what other people think of me. I wouldn't want to go too far in the opposite direction, because I find people who spend their lives proudly exclaiming "I don't give a shit what anyone thinks of me" to be particularly odious. But I could stand a good, heaping dose of "It's their problem." And it works both ways.<br /><br />If I am uncomfortable with transsexuals it's my problem. If you're uncomfortable with the thought of homosexuality, it's your problem. I ain't a victim by a damn sight, and neither are you; they didn't <i>make</i> us uncomfortable; we just <i>are</i> uncomfortable. And our state of being gives us no more right to reduce another person to a second-class citizen than would an aversion to russet tones justify us in taking a razor to every redhead we saw on the street.<br /><br />So. You get to be uncomfortable, and the operative word here is "be". Discomfort is a state if being - <i>your</i> being. You get to have your reactions. What you <i>don't</i> get to do is abrogate another person's rights because of your discomfort. You have an immensely powerful processor squelching about in your skull. You are capable of parsing your inner discomforts from your outer sanctions. Figure it out.<br /><br /><br />The mission statement of Meet Adam and Steve:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Many of you out there don't know anyone (or don’t think you know anyone) who is GLBT because of where you live. Some of you may think that all such people look or act a certain way, but this is simply not true. There are many lesbians that most people don’t recognize as such because they don’t fit the stereotype, and the same thing applies to gay men.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The folks on these pages were kind enough to let me photograph them, and to allow me to share their faces and their stories with you. Click on a few and see them as the normal people they are. I hope that this will help break some barriers, stop some ignorance within people, and help to spread a universal message of love.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">-Hugh Yeman </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-8351140398908782272009-07-04T19:29:00.000-07:002009-07-04T20:00:54.186-07:00Response to "Silencing The Christians"<div style="text-align: left;">The American Family Association recently showed their film "Silencing The Christians" in Florida. They are attempting to show it across the country. The following is: "I want SEX in public? A rebuttal video to Speechless: Silencing Christians"<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="525" width="660"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/drbuZb-_P-A&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca&border=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/drbuZb-_P-A&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="525" width="660"></embed></object></div></div><br /><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">As an LGBT activist, I would like to state, I have never read the book discussed in this film, nor do I know anyone who has........</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">This is who The American Family Association is:</span><br /><br />The American Family Association's president Tim Wildmon has praised America Vision founder Gary DeMar as "one of the best writers out there in the Christian community and thinkers." <p>Gary DeMar on the February 2, 2006 broadcast of Today's Issues, a program of AFA's American Family Radio stated in an interview:<br /></p><blockquote> <span style="font-weight: bold;">DeMAR: The definition of Christian Reconstruction is simply this: The Bible applies to every facet of life. That means not just the judicial aspects of life, such as civil government, church government, but business, economics -- every facet of society. The Bible has something to say about each area. For example, on homosexuals: We do not believe that homosexuals ought to be executed. The Bible doesn't say that homosexuals ought to be executed. What it says is th</span><img style="font-weight: bold;" src="http://i658.photobucket.com/albums/uu308/truthandlove/GaryDeMar.jpg" alt="Gary DeMar" title="Gary DeMar" align="left" border="0" height="227" hspace="5" vspace="5" width="175" /><span style="font-weight: bold;">is: If two men lie together like man and woman, they are to be put to death. </span><p style="font-weight: bold;">PORTEOUS: What the hell do you think that is? </p><p style="font-weight: bold;">DeMAR: Well, wait a minute. If a guy comes up to me and he says, "I'm a homosexual," that doesn't mean he's to be executed. If you understand the Scriptures, it says very clearly: If a man comes up to you and says, "I've murdered somebody," that doesn't mean that person ought to be executed.</p><p style="font-weight: bold;">GONZALES: Oh, so what you are saying, Gary, is, if you catch homosexuals in the act, then the Bible says to execute them. </p><p style="font-weight: bold;">DeMAR: The Bible lays forth the severest penalty, which would be capital punishment for two men who publicly engage in sodomy. DeMar continued by stating his nominal support for the death penalty for adulterers and abortion doctors: </p><p style="font-weight: bold;">GONZALES: If, indeed, the Reconstructionist movement ever made it in America, would you advocate these biblical principles being carried out: the execution of the adulterer, the abortionist, and the homosexual?</p><p style="font-weight: bold;">DeMAR: I'm saying that they could be implemented, yes.</p></blockquote><br />From Wikipeidia:<br /><br />The AFA defines itself as "a Christian organization promoting the Christian Biblical Ethic of decency in American society with primary emphasis on TV and other media"<br /><br />It pursues its views and other issues through a number of activism efforts, including boycotts, "action alert" e-mails, publications on the AFA's web sites or in the AFA Journal, broadcasts on American Family Radio, and lobbying. The legal efforts previously promoted by the AFA Center for Law and Policy were eliminated in 2007.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Chief among its efforts were the recognition of Christmas in seasonal print advertisements; the criminalization of homosexuality; lobbying against same-sex marriage, and in opposition of equal-rights and hate-crime legislation that would include sexual orientation and gender identity under categories already protected and advocating censorship of print and electronic media.</span><br /><br />The organization has an annual budget of roughly US $14 million and owns 180 American Family Radio stations in 28 states.<br /><br />The AFA has boycotted multiple U.S. companies for various reasons, most often relating to Christmas controversies, pornography, support of pro-choice activism, and support of LGBT activism, including same-sex partner employee benefits.<br /><br />These organizations include: 7-Eleven, Abercrombie & Fitch, American Airlines, American Girl, Blockbuster Video, Burger King, Calvin Klein, Carl's Jr., Clorox, Crest, Ford, Hallmark Cards, Kmart, Kraft Foods, S. C. Johnson & Son, Movie Gallery, Microsoft, MTV, Mary Kay, NutriSystem, Old Navy, IKEA, Sears, Pampers, Procter & Gamble, Target, Tide, Walt Disney Company, and PepsiCo.<br /><br />Although the AFA criticizes the People's Republic of China for its persecution of Christians the AFA has yet to actually move to boycott retailers of Chinese goods. To the contrary, the AFA has urged its members to support retailers such as Wal Mart, which deal mainly in Chinese goods.<br /><br />On October 19, 1998, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, led by Leslie Katz, wrote a letter to the AFA in response to an advertisement placed in the San Francisco Chronicle by the AFA regarding homosexuality and Christianity. The letter stated:<br /><blockquote><br />Supervisor Leslie Katz denounces your rhetoric against gays, lesbians and transgendered people. What happened to Matthew Shepard is in part due to the message being espoused by your groups that gays and lesbians are not worthy of the most basic equal rights and treatment. <span style="font-weight: bold;">It is not an exaggeration to say that there is a direct correlation between these acts of discrimination, such as when gays and lesbians are called sinful and when major religious organizations say they can change if they tried, and the horrible crimes committed against gays and lesbians.</span></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-74194362312181211892009-07-03T17:14:00.000-07:002009-07-03T17:14:47.925-07:00CNN story: 'Gayby boom': Children of gay couples speak out<a href="http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/06/28/gayby/index.html?eref=rss_topstories"><span style="font-weight: bold;">'Gayby boom': Children of gay couples speak out</span></a><br /><br />CNN -- Jesse Levey is a Republican activist who says he believes in family values, small government and his lesbian mothers' right to marry. Levey is part of the "gayby boom" generation. The 29-year-old management consultant is the son of a lesbian couple who chose to have a child through artificial insemination. He's their only child.<br /><br />Critics of same-sex marriage say people such as Levey will grow up shunned and sexually confused. Yet he says he's a "well-adjusted heterosexual" whose upbringing proves that love, not gender, makes a family.<br /><br />It damages the children, says <span style="font-weight: bold;">Dale O'Leary, author of "One Man, One Woman: A Catholics Guide to Defending Marriage." </span>She says that all children have a natural desire for a parent of each gender. But children of same-sex couples are forced to repress that desire because their parents won't accept it, she says. Their parents won't acknowledge their children's needs because they don't want to admit that they have caused their children to suffer.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">O'Leary says she doesn't personally know any same-sex parents or their children. That's the problem, some children of same-sex children say. So many people are talking about them; not enough are talking to them, they say.</span><br /><br />Some gayby boomers say they are tired of hearing that their family isn't legitimate. It's an argument many have heard since they were children. They learned that they didn't fit the definition of the "right" family, and worried how others would react if they found out about their parents.<br /><br />The result: the children of same-sex couples often lived lives that were more closeted than their parents. "Many of us were so closeted that we didn't know others like us were out there," says Danielle Silber, a 26-year-old fundraiser for the International Rescue Committee, who was raised by lesbian mothers and gay fathers in Takoma Park, Maryland.<br /><br />"In middle school, because of pervasive homophobia and taunting, I didn't tell any of my new friends in school about my family to the point where I wouldn't invite them to my birthday parties," Silber says. Silber says she didn't tell her parents about her fear of harassment because she was afraid to stand up for her family in school even though she was proud of them.<br /><br />"Although I would normally turn to my family, I couldn't because I was ashamed that I was ashamed of them," she says.<br /><br />Shame has now turned to pride for some gayby boomers. Many are now adults. They're writing memoirs, searching one another out online and have even formed their own support and advocacy group.<br /><br />Please read the entire story at <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/06/28/gayby/index.html?eref=rss_topstories">CNN.com</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-21646018982868665612009-07-03T02:24:00.000-07:002009-07-03T02:50:42.184-07:00SF Police Officer Speaks To Ft. Worth Dept About Rainbow Lounge Raid<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">At approximately 12:30 am on June 28th, the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, members of the Ft. Worth Texas Police Department and the Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission arrived to inspect the Rainbow Lounge, a newly opened gay bar in Ft. Worth. The police have said that when they entered the bar the patrons began groping them and making suggestive movements towards them. (if you have ever been to a gay bar, this just doesn't happen, the patrons will part the like the Red Sea when the police arrive, we remember when you could be arrested for just being gay) They arrested several people and Chad Gibson, 26, of Euless wound up hospitalized with a head injury. Depending whom you believe, he either fell or was shoved into a wall and the floor by a beverage commission agent.<br /><br />This is what a San Francisco Police Officer has to say about the raid:<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><object height="405" width="500"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PScswWSOas0&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&border=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PScswWSOas0&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="405" width="500"></embed></object></div><br /><br />h/t <a href="http://www.dallasvoice.com/instant-tea/2009/07/02/gay-san-francisco-cop-sounds-off-about-rainbow-lounge/">Dallas Voice</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-62048747590178038552009-07-03T01:38:00.000-07:002009-07-03T01:47:41.345-07:00August Provost III Murdered at Camp Pendleton: Possible Hate Crime<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQkSvmWok7J0MrtziCt8Xfcb3HamxRTmawaLZY6K_ODAKGgd34-UA8Md72qkAm93ZZYds8i8brTW-zFwa8HUF4n1WA5lyeOXvwmonGVrIF9Gu8gazTCGrP_9-WzJCQzZTHKzQk6TadFYo/s1600-h/provost.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 230px; height: 172px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQkSvmWok7J0MrtziCt8Xfcb3HamxRTmawaLZY6K_ODAKGgd34-UA8Md72qkAm93ZZYds8i8brTW-zFwa8HUF4n1WA5lyeOXvwmonGVrIF9Gu8gazTCGrP_9-WzJCQzZTHKzQk6TadFYo/s320/provost.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5354151597816255458" border="0" /></a>July 2, 2009<br />According to the Associated Press, the body of August Provost III, 29, was found in a guard shack Tuesday at Camp Pendleton, near San Diego, California.<br /><br />Rose Roy, Provost's aunt, believes her nephew was murdered and she doesn't think the military is telling the family the entire truth about what happened.<p> Relatives say there is evidence to indicate Provost was attacked because he was gay.</p> <p> Roy says a friend of Provost called her and said when Provost was found, his hands and feet were tied, he was gagged, shot three times and his body had been set on fire. He was found early Tuesday morning in a guard shack when another person showed up to replace him on duty.</p> <p> His aunt says he was proud to serve in the Navy. He had been in the military for two years and was stationed at Camp Pendleton near San Diego. Roy says he went into the military to help pay for the remainder of his college education. He had already completed three years, studying to become an architectural engineer.</p><p>Navy spokesman Capt. Matt Brown, described Provost as "a rising star in our Navy," who entered the service in March 2008. He had completed basic training and subsequent technical schools and was beginning preparations for overseas deployment.</p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-65968659160561788542009-07-02T00:25:00.000-07:002009-07-02T00:27:28.679-07:00Update on PA Senator John EichelbergerAfter attempting unsuccessfully to elicit an apology from PA Senator Eichelberger for his remark that he was allowing LGBT's "to exist," The Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents have created a Facebook Group, please click the link and sign up today:<br /><h3><a href="http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=9290&post=38887&uid=114139050228#/group.php?gid=114139050228">Exist-gate: Gays are allowed to exist AND have a Facebook Group</a></h3> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><object height="364" width="445"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/F9mk8qo-_Tk&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca&border=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/F9mk8qo-_Tk&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="364" width="445"></embed></object></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Senator John Eichelberger commented "We are allowing them to exist" during a recent interview on WHYY in Philadelphia. Eichelberger is the primary sponsor of legislation to amend the Pennsylvania constitution to "protect" marriage, and refuses to apologize for his "exist" comment. Thanks to <a href="http://nlsngrc.blogspot.com/2009/06/video-eichelberger-refuses-to-apologize.html">NGBlog</a> for the video h/t.<br /></span></div><br />Maybe Senator Eichelberger should read the article "Go South, Young Homo" in this month's Philadelphia Magazine. In it, Jessica Remo points out that the area is experiencing a Renaissance and becoming economically revitalized by an influx of gay and lesbian businesses and residents moving in. And the residents and traditional business owners have started welcoming the influx with open arms.<br /><br />Kevin Gillen, a Penn research fellow, explains that "This is the classic pattern, the artists and musicians are the first to take a risk in an emerging neighborhood. Then come the gay couples, who typically don't have children and so don't have the same worries about safety and school districts as young families."<br /><br />What she found most amazing was the welcome they were getting from the long time locals and fellow business people. Especially the elderly residents who have lived and raised their families in South Philly all their lives. They are discovering what all our neighbors tend to find out if they give us a chance, we tend to be damn friendly, open and honest, and very good for business. One elderly lady was almost complaining that since a couple moved in next door she has had little time to read her books, as they are often over visiting with her. Another long time resident told of the pierced and tattooed young man who let another resident know she had left her change behind on the counter of the local market.<br /><br />I bet the residents of South Philadelphia could teach Senator Eichelberger a thing or two about what makes a real community and what it means to be a real neighbor.<br /><br />Cross posted from <a href="http://truthandlovebylandr.blogspot.com/">Truth And Love After 40</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-56906671294105527812009-06-27T23:43:00.000-07:002009-06-28T12:00:14.573-07:00We Are A People With A History<span style="font-size:85%;">1431- Joan of Arc is burned at the stake for heresy. Among her "crimes" were cross-dressing and inappropriate relationships with women.</span>.......<a style="" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEs6KvlSVDTwpAvQWwwZaJvpyhicrddLHJjtQf8PrX1AyY9cqOnK_RTGuFhE4xCg1bbncsPGWmeDoeZ78MwZx1bbpD8RMxpceCOUgSbq68zoJgj2ZNHUeoD0w5TT_f-gEcBxz8x-uOG6Q/s1600-h/Joan_of_Arc.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 191px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEs6KvlSVDTwpAvQWwwZaJvpyhicrddLHJjtQf8PrX1AyY9cqOnK_RTGuFhE4xCg1bbncsPGWmeDoeZ78MwZx1bbpD8RMxpceCOUgSbq68zoJgj2ZNHUeoD0w5TT_f-gEcBxz8x-uOG6Q/s320/Joan_of_Arc.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352291632767953778" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I love history. All history, any time period, history of the Americas, Asian, African, European, Russian, Middle Eastern, Polynesian, you name it and I have studied something about it's peoples. But it wasn't until recently that I discovered the our community, the LGBTQ community, has a rich and diverse history of our own. It spans from the earliest civilizations that kept records of their own history to today. It encompasses every period that is human history, we were and are, leaders, artists, writers, poets, musicians, soldiers, bureaucrats, mothers, fathers, song writers, priests, ministers, sons and daughters, explorers, adventurers and we have made a mark on the history of all humankind.<br /><br />Today, to honor the 40th Anniversary of The Stonewall Riots, I would like to list some sites that you may want to visit to learn more about OUR HISTORY.<br /><br />From Wikipeidea: the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_LGBT_history">Timeline of LGBT History</a><br /><a href="http://www.glbtq.com/"><br />glbtq</a>: An encyclopedia of gay, lesbian, transgender and queer culture.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.onearchives.org/">The ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives</a> houses the world's largest research library on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender heritage and concerns.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/index.html">People With A History</a>: An Online Guide to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans* History<br /><a href="http://www.lesbianherstoryarchives.org/"><br />Lesbian Herstory Archives</a> Dedicated to Lesbian History<br /><a href="http://www.rainbowhistory.org/"><br />The Rainbow History Project</a> Preserving our communities heritage<br /><br /><a href="http://www.outhistory.org/wiki/Main_Page">OutHistory.org</a> A Wiki That you can join yourself and add your history to the history of millions of others.<br /><a href="http://home.sprynet.com/%7Editallop/homepage.htm"><br />Women Of The Left Bank</a> Paris, 1900 - 1940<br /><br /><a href="http://dougcooperspencer.blogspot.com/">Doug Cooper-Spenser: The View From Here</a> A blog about Black LGBT History<br /><a href="http://community.middlebury.edu/%7Emoss/RGC.html"><br />Russian Gay Culture:</a> History, links and commentary<br /><br /><a href="http://gender.eserver.org/">Gender and Sexuality:</a> publishes texts which address gender studies and queer studies, with a particular focus upon discussions of sex, gender, sexual identity and sexuality in cultural practices.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ukblackout.com/culture-mainmenu-117/black-history-month-culture-113.html">UKBlackOut</a>'s Black History Month for the UK Black LGBT community<br /><a href="http://rictornorton.co.uk/"><br />Gay History And Literature</a> Essays and resources by Rictor Norton, Ph.D. Social and literary historian and writer, specializing in gay history.<br /><br />About <a href="http://www.angelfire.com/fl3/celebration2000/">Karl Heinrich Ulrichs,</a> (1825 - 1895) considered the father of the gay rights movement.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.queermusicheritage.us/index2.html">Queer Music Heritage</a> "Queer Music Heritage" is both a radio show and a website, and the goal of both is to preserve and share the music of our culture.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.lgbtran.org/index.aspx">LGBT Religious Archives Network</a>A resource center and information clearinghouse<br />for the history of LGBT religious movements.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.logoonline.com/video/franchise.jhtml?ctid=2098">365gay LGBT History Video Library</a> 365gay.com presents a video course on the people and events that make up LGBT history through this unique collection of bios, documentaries, films, interviews, and coverage of major events.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.glbthistory.org/">GLBT Historical Society</a> The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Transgender Historical Society (GLBTHS) collects, preserves, and interprets the history of GLBT people and the communities that support them. We sponsor exhibits and programs on an on-going basis.<br /><a href="http://www.glbthistorymonth.com/glbthistorymonth/2008/"><br />GLBT History Month</a> (October) official site.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-11310-Grassroots-Equality-Examiner">Brandon Santos</a> Of the Grass Roots Equality Examiner series Today In LGBT History<br /><a href="http://www.bilerico.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=2&tag=Black%20LGBT%20History&limit=20"><br />Black LGBT History Series</a> from the Bilerico Project<br /><a href="http://gayrights.change.org/blog/view/an_lgbt_persons_guide_to_the_contemporary_history_of_the_united_states_1981-present"><br />Gay Rights An LGBT person's guide</a> to the contemporary history of the United States; 1981 to the present<br /><br />Google Search Results on <a href="http://www.google.com/search?q=lgbt+history&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&start=0&sa=N">LGBT History</a> Millions of pages to feed your history buff.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjunJuxnq5G0E0K3mtNKAq9W7zVXGRUBNT3Gr9oIY1Xibg2P60KCAAaJ-wbGiUX-LcFTeE4eckpsPanrveJHFmv6AEvVUmMGGMDwTp5bDhs4DD9-Q6ZV_V3psyu47NHoOv7ZGlsyG9Py5U/s1600-h/gayrights.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 208px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjunJuxnq5G0E0K3mtNKAq9W7zVXGRUBNT3Gr9oIY1Xibg2P60KCAAaJ-wbGiUX-LcFTeE4eckpsPanrveJHFmv6AEvVUmMGGMDwTp5bDhs4DD9-Q6ZV_V3psyu47NHoOv7ZGlsyG9Py5U/s320/gayrights.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352291974958333122" border="0" /></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-9343797563580724012009-06-26T02:24:00.000-07:002009-06-26T04:09:42.075-07:00‘The African Campaign’ Re-Thinking Judgment<span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;" >AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals. To oppose it would be like an Israelite jumping in the Red Sea to save one of Pharaoh's charioteers.-- Jerry Falwell</span><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >I remember early on in the epidemic hearing many of our church leaders saying much similar things as Jerry Falwell did about AIDS and gays. I remember asking my journalism professor if they didn't have it wrong, wasn't it more about a judgment on Christians who were not helping these people? Just like those who would not help the sick man laying in the street, but the Samaritan, supposedly a heathen, did? He looked at me kind of funny, and said maybe I was on to something there.<br /><br />I am sure others had the same thought, I only know I didn't think much more about the ramifications of that thought, or the ramifications of the statements like Jerry Falwell's which spread faster than the HIV virus itself, infecting minds everywhere with the belief that those infected must have some how deserved it so why should we fight it? The fruit of Jerry Falwell's statement has been that all over the world AIDS has claimed more than 25 million lives, and one in six are children. The result of not acting as a "Samaritan" in those early days, will haunt many of us the rest of our lives.<br /><br />At the end of 2007, there were 2 million children living with HIV. An estimated 370,000 children became newly infected with HIV in 2007. Of the 2 million people who died of AIDS during 2007, more than one in seven were children. Every hour, around 31 children die as a result of AIDS. At the end of 2007, women accounted for 50% of all adults living with HIV worldwide, and for 59% in sub-Saharan Africa. Young people (under 25 years old) account for half of all new HIV infections worldwide. There are nearly 12 million "AIDS Orphans" around the world, children who live largely in the Sub-Sahara regions of Africa. This is the fruit of those who spread their hate. Their forever legacy to humanity.<br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >There is a movie out called <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16m6Crg-egI"><span style="font-weight: bold;">'The African Campaign'</span></a> by Jersey Number Nine Productions, that has yet to be broadcast in the United States, it puts a new spin on the idea of AIDS as a judgment from God.<br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >Launched in early 2008 in the UK and Europe,</span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" > <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16m6Crg-egI"><span style="font-weight: bold;">‘The African Campaign’</span></a> is the controversial 're-telling' of the most heinous myth surrounding AIDS’ origin. In fundamentalist circles, it is believed that AIDS is a God-caused plague, the result of God’s displeasure with the LGBT lifestyle. Rather than deny this falsehood, the makers of ‘The African Campaign’ choose to change the myth, like Shelley reinterpreted Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’. In ‘The African Campaign’, heroes are those who suffer God’s viral wrath, challenge His hypocrisy, and free themselves to find love elsewhere.</span><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /> Four friends from the 16th century, who discovered a ritual that empowered them to defy God and his Angel of Death, are forced into an untimely reunion in present-day London when one of them contracts AIDS: God's viral revenge. 'The African Campaign' is the story of their battle. -- Synopsis from <a href="http://www.jerseynumbernine.com/">Jersey Number Nine website.</a><br /></span><br /><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" >You can catch the trailer on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16m6Crg-egI">YouTube,</a> or see it below, and then contact the <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.logoonline.com/about/contact.jhtml">LOGO channel</a> or <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://heretv.com/AContactPage.php">here!TV</a> to ask them to broadcast it if you would like to see more.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><object height="405" width="500"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/16m6Crg-egI&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca&border=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/16m6Crg-egI&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="405" width="500"></embed></object><br /></div><span style=";font-family:verdana;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-835782457312696112009-06-24T01:04:00.000-07:002009-06-24T01:24:02.244-07:00Living with rejection and fear causes high rate of depression in LGBT youth<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Matthew 18:6</span><br /><br />The fruits of the Anti-Gay Industry continued:<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />First-of-its-kind survey in North Texas indicates family rejection, religious issues lead to higher rate of depression, thoughts of suicide</span> from the <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.dallasvoice.com/artman/publish/article_11361.php">Dallas Voice, June 2009</a><br /><br />Youth First Texas recently released the results of a first-ever comprehensive survey of LGBT youth in the Dallas metropolitan area, and it suggests there may be a widespread mental health crisis among that population. YFT officials said the study was born out of a need to determine if the nonprofit organization was meeting the needs of the youth it has pledged to serve.<br /><br />Judith Dumont, director of administration at YFT, led the youth study. She said, “Any youth service provider that authentically understands their population should have a comprehensive study [of their own youth].” She said there are national studies available, but this one is the only one available “in Dallas, in Texas and even the Southwest.”<br /><br />The raw data for the study was collected from 100 LGBT and questioning youth and allies, ages 14 to 22, from October through December 2008. The subsequent statistical processing was performed by Jason Mintor, a doctoral candidate at Southern Methodist University.<br /><br />In terms of sexuality, the survey showed that 46 percent of YFT youth identify as gay, 31 percent as bisexual, 13 percent as lesbian, 9 percent as straight and 4 percent as questioning.<br /><br />Perhaps the most revealing statistic released was that 55 percent of YFT youth had attempted suicide in their lifetime, and more than 50 percent have considered it in the last year. One out of three had made plans to kill themselves in the last year as well. Dumont, who takes these numbers seriously, also said to keep in mind that there may be “discrepancies between what youth report they are doing and what their actual behavior is.”<br /><br />Still, philanthropist Mitchell Gold believes LGBT youth are indeed undergoing a “silent epidemic” of depression, a major factor in suicide. His recent book “Crisis” purports to expose “a tragic mental health crisis” affecting “hundreds of thousands of gay teenagers today.”<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">LGBT youth do report living in a state of continuous fear. And that, Dumont said, can lead to debilitating depression.</span><br /><br />About 30 percent of YFT youth report depression and 22 percent report feelings of anxiety, which can originate at school, church or at home. <span style="font-weight: bold;">About one quarter of YFT youth report being scared to go to school because of their sexual orientation, and about one fifth report having been assaulted at school for the same reason.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Homophobic slurs are being heard on a daily basis by 45 percent of the youth.</span><br /><br />Many youth have shifted their religious ties away from the churches in which they were raised, according to survey results. Dumont said, <span style="font-weight: bold;">“Many youth were forced to choose between their identities and their church.”</span><br /><br />The study shows, for example, that 70 percent of YFT youth were raised as Christians, but only 40 percent of today’s YFT youth identify as such.<br /><br />Dumont, though, said she is excited that <span style="font-weight: bold;">many youth are beginning to reclaim their religious identities by working with accepting churches such as the <a href="http://www.cathedralofhope.com/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=225&srcid=415">Cathedral of Hope </a>and the <a href="http://www.transfiguration.net/home/index.php">Church of Transfiguration.</a></span><br /><br />From the Cathedral of Hope website:<br /><p align="justify"><strong>The Love of Christ</strong></p><p align="justify">Jesus did a great deal to change many social customs and ideas. He elevated the position of women, and, ultimately, they were his best and most faithful disciples. He did this by example and by commandments that were absolutely inclusive of the rights of all people. Yet, in the name of the Christ whose love encompassed all, the Church has been the most homophobic of all institutions. This should not be surprising when we realize that the Church is still the largest institution which is primarily racially segregated.</p><p align="justify">The final, and central, message of the New Testament is that ALL persons are loved by God so much that God's Son was sent as a means of redemption from a disease by which we are all afflicted. The cure for this disease cannot be found in any set of actions. Neither homosexuality nor heterosexuality is redemptive. God's love through Christ was given to all people.</p><p align="justify"><strong>The Theological Reflection</strong></p><p align="justify">For the Christian, sin must be understood as a disease that results FROM a broken relationship with God and that results IN a broken relationship with one another and with ourselves. Hence, Jesus' supreme command is to love God and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Christianity is not a religion with new rules and laws but rather is a new relationship with God. Those things that the legalists are fond of labeling “sins” are actually just symptoms of the much deeper disease of alienation and estrangement. Much of the energy of the Church has been spent dealing with symptoms while leaving the disease intact. Jesus did not seem overly concerned about the legal transgressions of those to whom he ministered. Rather, he was much more concerned with healing the physical, spiritual, emotional and relational brokenness of people. Perhaps if the Church would again give itself to the healing/reconciling ministry of Jesus, then some of the symptoms about which we are so concerned would begin to disappear.</p><p align="justify">That brings us to the question: Is homosexuality a symptom of brokenness? In a very few cases, perhaps. Yet, pointing fingers of blame and accusation is not Christ's way. Rather, Jesus accepted people as they were and allowed love and acceptance to work its miracle. However, most lesbians and gays have been lesbian or gay for as long as they can remember. For them, it is a much a natural characteristic as their eye color or their handedness. Kinsey Institute research (University of Indiana, 1981) has suggested that homosexuality may well be genetic or, at least, linked to some prenatal factors. (Sexual Preference, Bell &Weinberg) Certainly most competent psychologists would concur that sexual orientation is set prior to the age of five in most persons. It is, therefore, not a matter of choice, so it cannot be a moral or ethical issue.</p><p align="justify">Many Christians insist that God can change/cure the homosexual. In the book The Third Sex there are six reported cases of homosexuals whom God has “cured.” Of these six, at least four are known to have returned to their gay lifestyle. (Christianity Today, February 1981) Many lesbians and gays spend most of their lives trying, with no success, to persuade God to change them. It is like trying to get God to change your eye color. What option, then, is left to these persons? They have been told that they can't be gay and Christian. Since all efforts have failed in their struggle not to be gay or lesbian, then their only recourse, according to the Church, is that they can't be Christian. So, the Church has discounted or discarded as much as 10% of the population.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-90953273108950790612009-06-20T19:49:00.000-07:002009-06-21T21:00:16.985-07:00The Anti-Gay Industry Is Now Bearing The Fruits Of Their Work<p>Several reports this year have shown a marked increase in violence against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and especially Transgender persons. The most recient comes from <a target="_blank" mce_href="http://www.ncavp.org/" href="http://www.ncavp.org/">The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs 2008 Hate Violence Report: </a></p><blockquote><p>New York - Violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people increased 2% from 2007 to 2008, continuing the trend of a 24% total increase in 2007, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP)'s 2008 Hate Violence Report. Bias-related murders were at their highest rate since 1999 with 29 known anti-LGBT murders committed in 2008. </p><p>Reports of violence in Milwaukee increased 64% and Minnesota and Chicago saw increases of 48% and 42%, respectively. "We are deeply troubled about the 2008 statistics for a number of reasons including the fact that increases in victimization in the Upper Midwest far exceed the national increase of 2%. </p><p>With Minnesota's 48% increase in 2008 and continued multi-year trend of such increases, we are concern for the safety of all GLBT Minnesotans even as we continue to work for equality," said Rebecca Waggoner Kloek, Anti-Violence Program Director of NCAVP member organization OutFront Minnesota. </p></blockquote> <p>Violence against the LGBT community is nothing new, its official state sanctioned beginnings were in the year 342 when the Christian emperors Constantius and Constans declared same-sex marriage to be illegal. (<b>Yes, ladies and gentlemen, at one time same sex marriage <a mce_href="http://bloggingfortruthmay2009.blogspot.com/2009/05/homosexual-marriage-is-traditional.html" href="http://bloggingfortruthmay2009.blogspot.com/2009/05/homosexual-marriage-is-traditional.html">WAS LEGAL</a> and this fact is backed up by the laws overturning it on record in Rome</b>) </p><p>In the year 390, the Roman Christian emperors Valentinian II, Theodosius I and Arcadius declared homosexual sex itself to be illegal and those who were guilty of it were condemned to be publicly burned alive. The Christian emperor Justinian I (527-565) made homosexuals a scapegoat for problems such as "famines, earthquakes, and pestilences." </p><p>Today, most of the perpetrators of hate crimes against the LGBT community have been lead to believe they are "just doing society a favor" by committing these crimes: In 1988 a Florida judge, trying a case concerning the beating to death of a gay man asked the prosecutor, "That's a crime now, to beat up a homosexual?" The prosecutor responded, "Yes, sir. And it's also a crime to kill them." Altschiller, Donald (2005), Hate Crimes: a reference handbook, ABC-CLIO, pp. 26–28 </p><p>Just where do they get these ideas? They get most of these ideas from a group of people who are very influential in fundamentalist theology today. <i><b>The major players in the Anti-Gay Industry have similar roots and early indoctrination into the ideas that grew out of the anti-communist, anti-semitic feelings fueled during the early cold war.</b></i> </p><p>Their actions are influenced by many of the same people, they speak at each others functions, attend the same conferences and preach to the same groups of people through TV, the radio and newsletters. Their mis-information flows out into the greater community and once heard, are often times taken for the truth. It isn't a conspiracy, while each group does have an agenda, it is simply they are out there preaching the same message. </p><p>According to a new book out byLeonard Zeskind, called <i>Blood And Politics: The History of the White Nationalist Movement From the Margins to the Mainstream</i>, during the 1960's Willis Allison Carto an avid anti-Semite and white supremacist published a newsletter, and a magazine called The Spotlight, that appealed to both anti-communists and arch-segregationists. </p><p> Among those influenced by Carto and his publications, either directly or indirectly were <b>Jerry Falwell, Pat Buchanan, David Noebel, David Duke, Phyllis Schlafly</b> and <b>Pat Robertson.</b> </p><p> <i><b>"And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead expose them." - Ephesians 5:11------</b></i></p><p>One of the first and one of the most active behind the scenes players in todays Anti-Gay industry is <b>Summit Ministries.</b> Summit Ministries trains leaders in the "war against multiculturalism, humanism, socialism, communism and homosexuality." </p><p>David Noebel, who's anti-civil rights career began as an evangelist with the scandal-plagued <a target="_blank" mce_href="http://www.schwarzreport.org/" href="http://www.schwarzreport.org/">Anti-Communist Christian Crusade</a>, also started Summit Ministries in 1962, their first target was Christian college students. Summit Ministries and the Anti-Communist Christian Crusade are both currently headquartered in Manitou Springs, Colorado. David Noebel is still associated with with the ACCC. </p><p>Now an unaccredited college of its own, boasting additional campuses in Ohio and Tennessee. Summit graduates more than 1,300 students a year — all of them steeped in both <a mce_href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/reconstr.htm" href="http://www.religioustolerance.org/reconstr.htm">Christian "dominionism"</a> (the idea that Biblical Law should dominate society and politics), fighting communism, thinly veiled white supremacy called anti-multiculturalism and anti-gay politics. In 1977, while still a member of the <a mce_href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Birch_Society" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Birch_Society">John Birch Society</a>, <b>Noebel was one of the first to recognize that anti-gay activism could surpass anti-communism as a winning issue for fundamentalists. </b></p><p>The U.S. is "rotting within," Noebel warned, and "homosexuality is only an issue when a nation is rotting morally." Noebel wrote a book called The Homosexual Revolution and gave anti-gay lectures. In 1986, he teamed up with debunked "scientist" <a target="_blank" mce_href="http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_cameron.html" href="http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_cameron.html">Paul Cameron</a> (founder of the Family Research Institute) and then-Summit instructor <a target="_blank" mce_href="http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=212" href="http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=212">Wayne Lutton</a>, currently a leader in the white-supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens, to write Special Report: AIDS. Pat Buchanan writes, on the back cover "<b>In a healthy society," Buchanan writes, homosexuality is "contained, segregated, controlled and stigmatized."</b> </p><p>Bolstered by Cameron's studies alleging that gay people were intentionally spreading the AIDS virus, Special Report proposes a number of means to "suppress" the outbreak, <b>concluding that it might become necessary to "exile" all "active homosexuals" from America.</b> </p><p>In 1991 he authored the 900-page Understanding the Times: The Religious Worldviews of our Day and the Search for Truth, a textbook interpreting current intellectual movements, from Biblical Christianity, Secular Humanism, Marxism/Leninism, the New Age Movement, Islam, and Postmodernism.It is widely used among Christian schools, churches and colleges, either in its unabridged or abridged formats. </p><p>Summit Ministries continues to preach anti-gay propaganda to the next generation of fundamentalist activists, with Mike Haley, an "ex-gay" campaigner who is Focus on the Family's "youth and gender specialist" and author of a book called Straight Answers: Exposing the Myths and Facts about Homosexuality, currently on the faculty. Summit Ministries is heartily endorsed by Focus on the Family's James Dobson, who, according to SPLC: "No one has spread the anti-gay gospel as widely, or with as much political impact, as James Dobson."</p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Why do Americans continue to listen to these people?</span><br /></p><a name="12"></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-90753463525232879662009-06-20T01:32:00.000-07:002009-06-20T01:46:13.492-07:00Pennsylvania Republican Is Allowing Us To ExistState Senator John Eichelberger, who introduced a bill that would amend the Pennsylvania constitution to define marriage as being between only a woman and a man, told <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.whyy.org/91FM/radiotimes.html" target="_blank">Philadelphia radio station <span class="caps">WHYY</span></a> today that gays are<span style="font-weight: bold;"> “They're [gays] </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">not being punished. We’re allowing them to exist, and do what every American can do. We’re just not rewarding them with any special designation.”</span> <p>Keystone Progress, has created <a href="http://www.keystoneprogress.org/page/s/paeichelberger" target="_blank">a petition demanding an apology</a>.<br /></p><p>Below is a partial transcript from the show:<br /></p> <p><span id="more-3658"></span></p> <blockquote><p>21:15<br />Leach: How would he [Eichelberger] want to encourage stability in gay couples?</p> <p>Eichelberger: I wouldn’t. I mean they can practice whatever sexual activity they like to practice, but there’s no reason to give them special consideration. We don’t give them special consideration in Pennsylvania for any reason. Why in the world would we allow them to marry?</p> <p>22:05<br />Leach: How would he want to encourage stability in gay couples?</p> <p>Eichelberger: There is no reason to encourage that type of behavior in Pennsylvania.</p> <p>24:20<br />Eichelberger: That comes back to the definition of family and that’s where we differ. We can call all kinds of things families. I mean, we can say a 3 party marriage is a family, or 7 or 8 people or marrying younger and younger children these days .</p> <p>25:00<br />Host: Are you saying that by their very nature homosexual relationships are dysfunctional?</p> <p>Eichelberger: [Pause] Ummmm. I guess I would say that. I would say that.</p> <p>38:50<br />Eichelberger: This changes the definition of marriage, allowing same-sex, and then like I said, 5-10 years from now it’ll be polygamy, marrying younger people, it’ll be whatever…It won’t be a 6 year old, it’ll be a 15 year old, then it’ll be a 14 year old, then it’ll be a 13 year old.</p> <p>49:40<br />Leach: Should our only policy towards [same-sex] couples be one of punishment, to somehow prove that they’ve done something wrong?</p> <p>Eichelberger: <span style="font-weight: bold;">They’re not being punished. We’re allowing them to exist, and do what every American can do.</span> We’re just not rewarding them with any special designation.</p></blockquote>It is worth hearing the entire broadcast as State Senator Daylin Leach, a Democrat representing Montgomery County, who has introduced a bill to amend the Pennsylvania ban on same-sex marriage to offer “full and equal marriage rights” to same-sex couples, voices wonderful truths.<br /><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-62132057158340189962009-06-13T03:25:00.000-07:002009-06-13T03:41:53.958-07:00They don't tell you, but they say it to each other........<p style="font-weight: bold;">Cut and pasted from a thread on Mormon Apologetics.org:</p><br /><br /><div id="navstrip"><img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/nav.gif" alt="gb310376231" border="0" /> <a href="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index.php?s=18ee79b0c0ff37bcc8d6c4a1db795aa5&act=idx">Mormon Apologetics & Discussion Board</a> > <a href="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index.php?s=18ee79b0c0ff37bcc8d6c4a1db795aa5&showforum=57">Welcome & Come On In!</a> > <a href="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index.php?s=18ee79b0c0ff37bcc8d6c4a1db795aa5&showforum=11">LDS Dialogue & Discussion</a><br /><br /><table class="ipbtable" cellspacing="1"><tbody><tr><td class="row2" valign="middle" width="1%"><div id="post-member-1208671293" class="popmenubutton-new-out"> <span class="normalname"> <img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/folder_profile_portal/user-offline.png" alt="" border="0" /><a href="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index.php?s=18ee79b0c0ff37bcc8d6c4a1db795aa5&showuser=1403">Corky Wallace</a></span> </div> <!-- member menu --> <div class="popupmenu-new" id="post-member-1208671293_menu" style="display: none; width: 230px;"> <div class="popupmenu-item-last"> <div style="float: right;"> <div class="pp-image-thumb-wrap"> <img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/folder_profile_portal/pp-blank-thumb.png" alt="" height="50" width="50" /> </div> </div> <br /><br /><div class="popupmenu-item"> <img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/folder_profile_portal/gender_mystery.png" id="pp-entry-gender-img-1403" alt="" border="0" /> <a href="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index.php?s=18ee79b0c0ff37bcc8d6c4a1db795aa5&showuser=1403">View Member Profile</a> </div> </div> </div> <!-- member menu --> <script type="text/javascript"> ipsmenu.register( "post-member-1208671293", '', 'popmenubutton-new', 'popmenubutton-new-out' ); </script> </td> <td class="row2" valign="middle" width="99%"> <!-- POSTED DATE DIV --> <div style="float: left;"> <span class="postdetails"> <img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/to_post_off.gif" alt="post" style="padding-bottom: 2px;" border="0" /> Jun 6 2009, 06:38 PM</span> </div> <!-- REPORT / DELETE / EDIT / QUOTE DIV --> <div align="right"> <span class="postdetails"> Post <a title="Show the link to this post" href="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index.php?showtopic=43741&view=findpost&p=1208671293" onclick="link_to_post(1208671293); return false;">#1</a> </span> </div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="post2" valign="top"> <span class="postdetails"> <br /><br /> Seasoned Member: Separates Light & Dark<br /> <img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/pip.gif" alt="*" border="0" /><img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/pip.gif" alt="*" border="0" /><img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/pip.gif" alt="*" border="0" /><br /><br /> Group: Members<br /> Posts: 562<br /> Joined: 12-February 05<br /> Member No.: 1403<br /> <br /> </span><br /> <img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/spacer.gif" alt="" height="1" width="160" /><br /> </td> <td class="post2" id="post-main-1208671293" valign="top" width="100%"> <!-- THE POST 1208671293 --> <div class="postcolor" id="post-1208671293"> One thing I've appreciated about growing older is my imagination is no longer held captive all day by a beautiful woman who smiles & says hello. Much easier to get back to work, be productive, without having "flash backs" of what might potentially be. The old diminishing sex drive has its benefits! LOL<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">More seriously, is chemical castration an option for LDS gays?</span> I mean, if you're faithful LDS & accept that for whatever reason the Lord has put you on Earth as a "eunuch" (best case, if you can stay strong), why should you have to struggle with incessant thoughts that are not just inappropriate now, but will be inappropriate in the next life, too, only serve to pervert any desires to have children in a celestial relationship in the next life. There is zero point to having homosexual thoughts, it's not as though they're a normal part of the procreation process - they're just an annoying, perverted form of biology, entirely worthless.<br /><br />Does the handbook have information on this?</div></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table style="width: 669px; height: 584px;" class="ipbtable" cellspacing="1"><tbody><tr><td class="row2" valign="middle" width="1%"><div id="post-member-1208671364" class="popmenubutton-new-out"> <span class="normalname"> <img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/folder_profile_portal/user-offline.png" alt="" border="0" /><a href="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index.php?s=18ee79b0c0ff37bcc8d6c4a1db795aa5&showuser=15464">BoMan</a></span> </div> <!-- member menu --> <div class="popupmenu-new" id="post-member-1208671364_menu" style="display: none; width: 230px;"> <div class="popupmenu-item-last"> <div style="float: right;"> <div class="pp-image-thumb-wrap"> <img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/folder_profile_portal/pp-blank-thumb.png" alt="" height="50" width="50" /> </div> </div> <div class="popupmenu-item"> <img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/folder_profile_portal/gender_male.png" id="pp-entry-gender-img-15464" style="vertical-align: top;" alt="" border="0" /> <a href="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index.php?s=18ee79b0c0ff37bcc8d6c4a1db795aa5&showuser=15464">View Member Profile</a> </div> </div> </div> <!-- member menu --> <script type="text/javascript"> ipsmenu.register( "post-member-1208671364", '', 'popmenubutton-new', 'popmenubutton-new-out' ); </script> </td> <td class="row2" valign="middle" width="99%"> <!-- POSTED DATE DIV --> <div style="float: left;"> <span class="postdetails"><img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/folder_post_icons/icon9.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/to_post_off.gif" alt="post" style="padding-bottom: 2px;" border="0" /> Jun 7 2009, 12:13 AM</span> </div> <!-- REPORT / DELETE / EDIT / QUOTE DIV --> <div align="right"> <span class="postdetails"> Post <a title="Show the link to this post" href="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index.php?showtopic=43741&view=findpost&p=1208671364" onclick="link_to_post(1208671364); return false;">#19</a> </span> </div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="post2" valign="top"> <span class="postdetails"> <a href="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index.php?s=18ee79b0c0ff37bcc8d6c4a1db795aa5&showuser=15464" title="View Member Profile"><img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_avatars/Mormon/lds02.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /> Newbie: Without form, and void<br /> <img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/pip.gif" alt="*" border="0" /><br /><br /> Group: Members<br /> Posts: 70<br /> Joined: 6-May 09<br /> From: Las Vegas, NV<br /> Member No.: 15464<br /> <br /> </span><br /> <img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/spacer.gif" alt="" height="1" width="160" /><br /> </td> <td class="post2" id="post-main-1208671364" valign="top" width="100%"> <!-- THE POST 1208671364 --> <div class="postcolor" id="post-1208671364"> <!--quoteo(post=1208671317:date=Jun 6 2009, 09:11 PM:name=annewandering)--><div class="quotetop">QUOTE(annewandering @ Jun 6 2009, 09:11 PM) <a href="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index.php?act=findpost&pid=1208671317"><img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/post_snapback.gif" alt="*" border="0" /></a></div><div class="quotemain"><!--quotec-->How about solving all our problems with a few drugs? I am wondering if we were to voluntarily do this would it mean we would have to learn control after we die or would taking the drugs voluntarily be counted as controlling our physical body?<br />Something like this is really getting into pretty dangerous territory, both spiritually and physically. Willingly subverting freewill just seems wrong on the surface but we take medicine for depression and other psychological conditions fairly freely. If we decide the one is bad does it condemn the rest?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">I am a psychiatric social worker. </span>I have considered this dilema for years, but don't think much of it these days. "What is, is; what ain't ain't." Persons with sever mental illness do take medications, <b>necessarily so</b>! They take them with informed consent, voluntarily, and with increasingly greater success. If there are medications, which there are, that can help an alcoholic check his/her drinking should we suggest that the alcoholic not take the medications based upon the idea that it robs him of moral agency? What about the diabetic? I have seen diabetics, craving sugar, eat themselves into various stages of neuropathy. Medication can help stave off those cravings. Can we possibly suggest that because it would rob them of moral agency a diabetic should not take medications? In my view it would be immoral for those responsible not to do everything possible to get the person so sticken to take the medications that will provide the help they desperately need. <span style="font-weight: bold;">If there is a chemical solution to help a chronic adulterer or a gay man acheive sexual sobriety, and worthy entrance to the temple, I AM ALL FOR IT. I don't remember questions on the temple recommend interview asking the kind of medications I take or why I have to take them. Do you?</span><br /><br /><br /><!--IBF.ATTACHMENT_1208671364--> </div> </td></tr></tbody></table></div>At least one member is calling it for what it is!!<br /><br /><table class="ipbtable" cellspacing="1"><tbody><tr><td class="row2" valign="middle" width="1%"><div id="post-member-1208671369" class="popmenubutton-new-out"> <span class="normalname"> <img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/folder_profile_portal/user-offline.png" alt="" border="0" /><a href="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index.php?showuser=19">The Nehor</a></span> </div> <!-- member menu --> <div class="popupmenu-new" id="post-member-1208671369_menu" style="display: none; width: 230px;"> <div class="popupmenu-item-last"> <div style="float: right;"> <div class="pp-image-thumb-wrap"> <img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/folder_profile_portal/pp-blank-thumb.png" alt="" height="50" width="50" /> </div> </div> <div class="popupmenu-item"> <img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/folder_profile_portal/gender_mystery.png" id="pp-entry-gender-img-19" alt="" border="0" /> <a href="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index.php?showuser=19">View Member Profile</a> </div> </div> </div> <!-- member menu --> <script type="text/javascript"> ipsmenu.register( "post-member-1208671369", '', 'popmenubutton-new', 'popmenubutton-new-out' ); </script> </td> <td class="row2" valign="middle" width="99%"> <!-- POSTED DATE DIV --> <div style="float: left;"> <span class="postdetails"> <img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/to_post_off.gif" alt="post" style="padding-bottom: 2px;" border="0" /> Jun 7 2009, 12:51 AM</span> </div> <!-- REPORT / DELETE / EDIT / QUOTE DIV --> <div align="right"> <span class="postdetails"> Post <a title="Show the link to this post" href="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index.php?showtopic=43741&view=findpost&p=1208671369" onclick="link_to_post(1208671369); return false;">#21</a> </span> </div> </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="post2" valign="top"> <span class="postdetails"> <a href="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/index.php?showuser=19" title="View Member Profile"><img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/uploads/av-19.jpg" alt="" border="0" height="80" width="72" /></a><br /><br /> Death, Destroyer of Worlds<br /> <img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/pip.gif" alt="*" border="0" /><img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/pip.gif" alt="*" border="0" /><img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/pip.gif" alt="*" border="0" /><img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/pip.gif" alt="*" border="0" /><img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/pip.gif" alt="*" border="0" /><br /><br /> Group: Members<br /> Posts: 4628<br /> Joined: 26-November 03<br /> Member No.: 19<br /> <br /> </span><br /> <img src="http://www.mormonapologetics.org/style_images/wwwskin-en/spacer.gif" alt="" height="1" width="160" /><br /> </td> <td class="post2" id="post-main-1208671369" valign="top" width="100%"> <!-- THE POST 1208671369 --> <div class="postcolor" id="post-1208671369"> I think this thread is akin to the thread from a while back asking if we should kill babies to help them reach Celestial glory. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Stupid and inflammatory.</span><br /><br />If NCMO had succeeded this thread would have been closed and all participants chemically castrated. <!--IBF.ATTACHMENT_1208671369--> </div> <br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-8681284342354987662009-06-12T11:15:00.000-07:002009-06-12T11:26:51.025-07:00PBS To Air Beyond Hatred June 30, 2009, 10 pmTuesday, June 30 at 10:00 PM (90 minutes)<br /><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY3mObIQT5kV6NV0hgYcK6jUZM5FTOK6VWYQlny8ednPCivYX91ZwX2ysUQfQj0wUklzUYJMObIy69PKpdXZa8zjrirPIPTNfmyQJ4_PliMRdKAHkOqkoK_5mon-n8fS7a4lqMVO4MMY8/s1600-h/beyond+hatred.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY3mObIQT5kV6NV0hgYcK6jUZM5FTOK6VWYQlny8ednPCivYX91ZwX2ysUQfQj0wUklzUYJMObIy69PKpdXZa8zjrirPIPTNfmyQJ4_PliMRdKAHkOqkoK_5mon-n8fS7a4lqMVO4MMY8/s400/beyond+hatred.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346509179222196338" border="0" /></a>In September 2002, three skinheads were roaming a park in Rheims, France, looking to "do an Arab," when they settled for a gay man instead. Twenty-nine-year-old François Chenu fought back fiercely, but he was beaten unconscious and thrown into a river, where he drowned. The acclaimed French vérité film <strong>Beyond Hatred</strong> is the story of the crime's aftermath; above all, of the Chenu family's brave and heartrending struggle to seek justice while trying to make sense of such pointless violence and unbearable loss. With remarkable dignity, they fight to transcend hatred and the inevitable desire for revenge.<br /></p><p>You may preview the film by clicking <a href="http://www.pbs.org/pov/beyondhatred/">POV - Beyond Hatred</a></p><p>From <a href="http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=features2006&content=jump&jump=review&head=berlin&nav=RBerlin&articleid=VE1117929645&cs=1&p=0">Variety's</a> review by Leslie Felperin:</p><p style="font-style: italic;">"Point of the film is not to explore the homophobic attack itself, but its aftermath. Core arc concerns Chenu family's feelings as they evolve from anger and despair toward an almost saintly recognition of how the killers' own deprived backgrounds led them to this horrible act. The father of one of the killers, an alcoholic who tried to destroy evidence, and another attacker's aunt, are also interviewed and treated with the same even-handed sympathy by the filmmakers.<span class="content"><p>Viewers expecting daytime-TV style histrionics from such emotive material will be struck by the quiet, contained dignity of Chenu's family, none of whom ever raises his or her voice."</p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-40696499507408976552009-06-09T13:21:00.000-07:002009-06-09T13:29:43.265-07:00Meet Rhythm Turner : Hate Crime SurvivorRhythm Turner, 25, singer and guitarist in local band, Rhythm and The Method believes she was the victim of a hate crime when Vincen Matthew Williams, 21, assaulted her, after she hugged her girlfriend, outside Canes Bar & Grill in Mission Beach on Thursday, May 14, 2009.<br /><br />“I was assaulted because of my sexual orientation, because I choose to want to give my girlfriend a hug,” Turner said.<br /><br />The men who assaulted her became angry when the men wanted them to kiss in front of them, the women refused...... from the <a href="http://www.gaylesbiantimes.com/?id=14782">Gay And Lesbian Times</a><br /><br /><object height="405" width="660"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/f5tGpnspl80&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&border=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/f5tGpnspl80&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xe1600f&color2=0xfebd01&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="405" width="660"></embed></object><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">“Because we are lesbians, are we automatically victims of any male who wants to see us perform sexually in front of him, and is it OK for that male to then attack us when he doesn’t get what he wants?” </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-32015934903139032982009-06-09T02:34:00.000-07:002009-06-09T02:47:05.287-07:00Homosexual parents: all in the family.There are over 10 million children being raised today in the United States by Gays, Lesbians, Bi-Sexuals and Transgender persons. The Anti Gay Industry have made various claims that such parents try to influence their children's sexuality. As far back as 1995, studies have shown that this is just not the case:<br /><br />From the <a href="http://www.articlearchives.com/science-news/238084-1.html">Science News</a> January, 1995<br /><p>An increasing number of homosexual men and women in the United States raise children, whether as a result of artificial insemination, adoption, or winning custody of youngsters conceived during previous heterosexual relationships. Considerable social and legal controversy surrounds this, trend, much of it focused on whether homosexual parents can raise well-adjusted children. </p><p>Three new studies, published in the January Developmental Psychology, suggest that neither the absence of a father nor the presence of homosexual parents interferes with a child's emotional development. Moreover, <span style="font-weight: bold;">a large majority of the sons of men who now classify themselves as homosexual are themselves heterosexual, contrary to popular notions that homosexual parents groom their offspring for a corresponding sexual orientation. </span></p> <p>The latter finding comes from a study of 55 homosexual or bisexual men who reported the sexual orientation of their 82 sons age 17 or older. J. Michael Bailey, a psychologist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., and his coworkers recruited the fathers through ads in homosexual publications and also contacted 43 of their sons. The sons' self-ratings of sexual orientation nearly always agreed with their fathers' ratings of them, so Bailey's group included in its analysis all of the fathers' ratings (except for those of seven men who were uncertain of their sons' sexual orientation). </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;">Of the 75 sons included in the analysis, 7 (9 percent) were homosexual or bisexual. This proportion exceeds the 2 percent to 5 percent rate of homosexuality thought to occur in Western societies, but it falls far below levels of homosexuality found in male identical and fraternal twins (SN: 1/4/92, p.6). An inherited influence on sexual orientation may slightly boost the incidence of homosexuality in sons of homosexuals, the researchers propose. </p> <p style="font-weight: bold;">Homosexual sons had not lived longer with their fathers than had heterosexual sons. Thus, imitation of homosexual fathers or parental encouragement to try homosexuality apparently played no role in sons' sexual orientation, the scientists hold. </p> <p>The second study, directed by psychologist David K. Flaks of St. Francis Medical Center in Trenton, N.J., found healthy and largely equivalent emotional and behavioral adjustment in 3- to 9-year-old children of 15 lesbian couples and 15 heterosexual couples. Both groups of parents reported largely satisfying relationships and substantial knowledge of effective parenting skills. Lesbian couples were located through a lesbian-mother support group and, like the heterosexual couples, consisted mainly of two wage earners. </p> <p>The third investigation involves 26 lesbian couples with 4- to 9-year-old children conceived through artificial insemination. Psychologist Charlotte J. Patterson of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville reports that the women display a high degree of satisfaction with their relationships, based greatly on an equal division of household tasks and responsibility for family decisions. Still, the biological mothers spent more time at home and fewer hours at paid employment than their partners. </p> <p>Patterson also notes that children of these lesbian couples show good psychological health, compared to same-age children in 11 heterosexual couples with similar backgrounds and incomes. </p> <p>"Studies to date show few differences among children of lesbian, gay, and heterosexual couples," writes Diana Baumrind, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, in an accompanying comment. However, the data remain limited, since investigations focus on small numbers of couples who have not been selected at random and who have not been interviewed extensively or observed interacting with their children, Baumrind cautions. </p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-14913665928337269092009-06-06T14:52:00.000-07:002009-06-06T15:12:07.129-07:00Overcoming the Lies Within OurselvesIn the United States, many of us are brought up to believe that Homosexuality is a sin, it's wrong, it's a perversion and so on. We have been taught this by our churches, our family and friends, the media, and especially the legal system. Until 1970, every state in the U.S. except for Illinois criminalized homosexual sex between consenting adults in a private home.<br /><br />An adult convicted of the crime of having sex with another consenting adult in the privacy of his or her home could get anywhere from a light fine to five, ten, or twenty years—or even life—in prison. In 1971 twenty states had 'sex psychopath' laws that permitted the detaining of homosexuals for that reason alone. In Pennsylvania and California sex offenders could be locked in a mental institution for life, and in seven states they could be castrated.<br /><br />Castration, emetics, hypnosis, electroshock therapy and lobotomies were used by psychiatrists to attempt to "cure" homosexuals of their desires throughout the 1950s and 1960s. While we may not have been fully aware of these laws as children, the homophobic feelings they fostered would have been very noticeable to us. Not all of these "therapies" have gone away either. The Ex-Gay or Reparative Therapy advocates still use hypnosis and have even added aversion therapy among others.<br /><br />Things didn't begin to change until 1969 an event happened that we now just call "Stonewall." The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. They are frequently cited as the first instance in American history when gays and lesbians fought back against a government-sponsored system that persecuted homosexuals, and they have become the defining event that marked the start of the modern gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.<br /><br />Slowly, individual states began to repeal these laws, by 1989 "only" 26 states had "anti-sodomy" laws. It wasn't until 2003 that the US Supreme Court found the remaining laws unconstitutional. Incredibly, 15 states still had these laws on their books. 2003......yes, just 6 years ago.<br /><br />Until we come into contact with accurate information and meet other lesbians and gays to challenge these negative beliefs, we often believe the bad things we have been told. This is called "Internalized Homophobia." It usually means that we basically hate ourselves. The self hate manifests itself in that we have low self-esteem and try to hide or suppress our sexuality. Some of us are outwardly homophobic. We may not even be aware that this is going on within us, and it may manifest itself in different ways.<br /><br />Since we have been actively bombarded with anti gay rhetoric we need to actively combat these feelings they produce in us. There are many things you can do to change your own self image:<br /><br />Read materials to help you get rid of your internalized homophobia - to challenge all the negative beliefs. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=coming%20out&tag=tranloaf40-20&index=books&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Amazon</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=tranloaf40-20&l=ur2&o=1" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" border="0" height="1" width="1" /> has quite a few. Download and read <a href="http://www.pcmk.org/blue_book.pdf">"The Blue Book"</a> a manual written as a gift to the congregation of The Presbyterian Church, Mt. Kisco, New York, in recognition of the love and support that their church members have given to individuals and families whose lives have been touched by the issue of homosexuality.<br /><br />The process can be even more difficult for those of us who have developed harmful ways of coping with the suppression of their true sexual orientation. I am talking about using drugs and alcohol to help cope. It is important to understand that this strategy will seriously hinder not only your developing positive lesbian identities, but your positive self image as humans. Understand that the more accepting you are of yourself, the more your own self esteem rises, and the reasons for continuing to use drugs and alcohol decrease. But we cannot always stop using them on our own, if you can honestly say you have a problem, I suggest you start by visiting the <a href="http://www.pride-institute.com/index.php">Pride Institute</a> to get the help you need.<br /><br />Finding other LGBT folks to just be friends with is another very important part of learning to accept yourself. You can meet people at an affirming church, at support groups, even queer bars and online.<br /><br />Remember to be the healthy, complete human being that you were created to be, you'll need to do quite a bit of work emotionally in order to undo all the negative stuff you've internalized. The longer you've suppressed your true sexual orientation the more time it will take. If you're ready to take that step, good luck but remember it is ALWAYS worth it! And SO ARE YOU!!!<br /><br />Partially cross posted from <a href="http://truthandlovebylandr.blogspot.com/search/label/coming%20out">Truth And Love After 40</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-90275874653108676472009-06-01T10:37:00.000-07:002009-06-01T10:37:00.640-07:00Thank You All!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDxh-a8a7-m3evX0dAeJu9MNUlNKCPrFC_kisDTI_97NnWFGz_oK8T-I3n5gLEajeKDV1KNvGlHwmXT-lodxoqo3toAFhuPo3Ku38jAn1nWdU518B9L8LdOxJakhSG3JAJZOD2yxk7Q0U/s1600-h/bloggers600x150.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 100px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDxh-a8a7-m3evX0dAeJu9MNUlNKCPrFC_kisDTI_97NnWFGz_oK8T-I3n5gLEajeKDV1KNvGlHwmXT-lodxoqo3toAFhuPo3Ku38jAn1nWdU518B9L8LdOxJakhSG3JAJZOD2yxk7Q0U/s400/bloggers600x150.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342414275923400194" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has the data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit fact." - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.</span><br /><br />Blogging For Truth Week officially ended yesterday. But the search for truth is a never ending one, so don't be surprised to see a new post now and then until next year!<br /><br />I want to personally thank each and every one of the following bloggers for participating and for continuing to blog about what is true and what is love. Their blogs are always worth reading:<br /><br />The Bi Avenger from <a href="http://cowtown-bisexual.blogspot.com/">Cowtown Bisexual</a><br /><br />All the United Queers at <a href="http://queersunited.blogspot.com/">Queers United</a><br /><br />Jay from <a href="http://jaysays.com/">Jay Says</a><br /><br />Jendi Reiter from <a href="http://www.jendireiter.com/">Reiter's Block</a><br /><br />Bridgeout from <a href="http://bridgeout.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Burning or building bridges in the community?</a><br /><br />Kittredge Cherry from <a href="http://jesusinlove.blogspot.com/">Jesus In Love</a><br /><br />Goombah from <a href="http://www.goombahsrainbow.com/">Goombahs Rainbow</a><br /><br />Truthspew from <a href="http://truthspew.wordpress.com/">Spewing Truth in the face of Lies</a><br /><br />The Surprised Dyke from <a href="http://thesurprisedyke.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Ramblings of the Surprise Dyke</a><br /><br />WeLoveTea from <a href="http://welovetea.wordpress.com/">Love With The Hands Wide Open</a><br /><br />Ceara from <a href="http://lesbiansaidwhat.com/">The Lesbian Said What?</a><br /><br />MJ, Kim and Jude from <a href="http://itisalwaystoday.blogspot.com/">It Is Always Today. </a><br /><br />Furtive Life from <a href="http://furtivelife.blogspot.com/">The Furtive Life</a><br /><br />BioGal from <a href="http://panoptifier.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Panoptifier: Making all things visible...</a><br /><br />Miss Katherine from <a href="http://katherineactivism.blogspot.com/">Katherine's Activism</a> A student who created a blog, solely so she could participate!<br /><br />LLnL from <a href="http://ll-n-l.blogspot.com/">Love,Lust and Life</a><br /><br /><a href="http://truthandlovebylandr.blogspot.com/">Truth and Love After 40</a> and those two delicious ladies who write it.<br /><br /><br />And I want to thank the following sites for promoting Blogging For Truth to their readers:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.popmaxnow.com/">PopMaxNow</a><br /><br /><a href="http://theinnerdoor.wordpress.com/">The Blue Door</a><br /><br /><a href="http://shesquaredblog.com/">SheSquared</a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Selected highlights from some of the posts:</span><br /><br />People who hate cannot accept those who love, but people who love CAN accept those who hate. That is our true power. Love is stronger than hate. -- <a href="http://jesusinlove.blogspot.com/">Kittredge Cherry</a><br /><br />All of us "Bloggers for Truth" have stories we can tell about our own partnerships or those of our parents, teachers, pastors and friends--all GLBT people whose lives have been touched by the Spirit. But we also have to make the Scriptural case that stories <i>are</i> truths, on a par with or superior to the truths of abstract reasoning, at least when it comes to practical ethics. Time and time again I hear anti-gay Christians argue that we are biased by our personal desires (either lust or pride) while they are merely following "what the Bible says". Their epistemology doesn't allow for scrutiny of the human element in interpretation, nor of their own emotional biases, because they need the Bible to remain magically exempt from the human condition of partiality and uncertainty. -- Jendi Reiter on <a href="http://www.jendireiter.com/">Reiter's Block</a><br /><br />What goes through the mind of someone who is gay? If you listen to the Christian right, somewhere there is a magical place where people wait in line for hours to sign up to be gay. Because it’s a choice, right? “Hmm. I’ll choose the life where I will face discrimination, fear, loneliness, rejection, lack of rights and possibly risk my life. Yea, that one sounds better.....”<br /><br />"......If you are straight and reading this, contemplate for one minute how it would feel to have these feelings every day. Every minute. Could you endure this? The shame, the fear, the loneliness? <em>This is what homophobia and anti-gay speech is doing to real human beings. They are daughters, sons, brothers and sisters. They are your neighbors. Are you the kind of person who wants to make people feel this way?" --<a href="http://jaysays.com/2009/05/lgbt-lessons-for-straight-people-one-gay-man-157-opinions-by-bear54-gay-lgbt/"> Jude on Jaysays</a><br /><br /></em>I regret none of my relationships with men, but if I'd understood the role of attraction in sexuality I might have rejected the idea that all girls were meant to respond to the advances of boys. I didn't understand that attraction was not supposed to be something separate from my relationships with men, so it took me too long to understand my cultivated sexual relationships with men weren't normal as I'd always assumed, and what I was meant to feel with a man was what I felt with women. -- <a href="http://furtivelife.blogspot.com/">Furtive Life</a><br /><br /><strong style="font-weight: normal;">I am a Christian who not only accepts but <em>values</em> the gay community</strong> (LGBTQ or whatever other letter you want to use to describe it). I don’t feel threatened by that community (which is actually OUR community, not some separate community, as that phrase might suggest). I don’t feel that by accepting that community’s right to exist, I am somehow degrading my own (straight) sexuality. That community includes friends and family who mean the world to me, who are beautiful people, who deserve a medal for the courage it takes for them to stick up for themselves in ways large and small on a day-to-day basis. -- <a href="http://welovetea.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/blogging-for-truth/">WeLoveTea</a><br /><br />You can call me naive, whatever. I don't care. Hate and anger just breed more hate and anger. I'd rather take the high road and while I might not change that particular person, maybe it will influence someone who is observing that maybe, just maybe, we are good people-just like them. -- <a href="http://thesurprisedyke.blogspot.com/">The Surprised Dyke</a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7900955484722048342.post-22189525252465702612009-05-31T14:37:00.000-07:002009-05-31T15:47:31.206-07:00An Open Letter To The LGBTQ CommunityThis blog was conceived as a place to shed some light onto the lies that are spread by those who seek to push us back into the closet. It was conceived as a place to be used for healing as well. I wanted to include all of our alphabet soup.<br /><br />Right now we are seeing some amazing accomplishments for our civil rights, for marriage in Iowa, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and I am waiting today to hear if the Nevada Assembly will override our 'governors' veto for our own domestic partnership bill. The Senate did so last night. At least one Senator who had voted against the bill originally reversed his vote due to the calls he received from the Anti-Gay "Christians" threatening to do him harm if he voted to overturn the veto. Love wins over hate.<br /><br />In Florida, their Appellate Court overturned the ban on gay adoption. Arkansas is looking at their anti adoption law. More and more states are passing laws to protect us in our places of employment, our homes and with the passage of the Matthew Shepard Act, there is great hope that the free license so many haters feel they have to beat, maim and kill us will be curbed. Corporations are moving to include sexual orientation AND even gender identity as protected from discriminatory hiring and firing practices. Love wins over hate.<br /><br />From the time I was about 8, when my grandfather paid me 10.00 (1960's money) to read the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and explain my understanding of them, AND to memorize the first 10 amendments, I have believed with all my heart and soul that ALL are created EQUAL and ALL have unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I have believed that while we have the potential to be the greatest country in the world we often fall short.<br /><br />BUT I have come to notice that it has ALWAYS been the oppressed and downtrodden that have shaken our complacency to the roots and have FORCED US TO LIVE UP TO OUR FOUNDING IDEALS.<br /><br />It has been the Blacks brought in slave ships against their will, who survived untold horrors to somehow remain sane, to raise families and to find love, education, to finally demand from this country the rights they as humans were already guaranteed. It too has been the Women who knew those rights belonged to them, the original peoples of the many tribes, because they also, from birth, were endowed with the same guarantees, it has been the Asians, the Irish and the millions who have come here from every corner of the globe because they believe in those ideals sometimes more than we do who were born here.<br /><br />I remember that during the civil rights movement of the 1960's there were opposing voices from some black leaders. They felt that Dr. King was causing trouble. That the whites would listen better if Malcolm X would shut up and move out of the limelight. We could have full equality if you just don't include the Nation of Islam. Or the Black Panthers. I remember those who opposed Muhammad Ali when he gave the Black Power sign at the Olympics. Don't protest they said. Don't say that they said. "They" will come after us, they said, there will be more lynchings, more beatings, more cross burnings if you keep that up Dr. King.<br /><br />I hear the same voices in our community today. If we would only ignore the Transgender community we will have full rights already. If we mock the Bisexuals, call them "posers", "confused" the Anti-Gays wouldn't have so much ammunition against us. If those gay men would quit holding hands in public, if those lesbians would stop acting so dyke, if we would just shut the hell up so they don't get mad anymore and beat us and kill us and call us names.............If, if, if.........what you are really saying is: IF we only discriminate against those who we see as making it harder on the rest of us and embarrass us WE WOULD HAVE OUR FULL RIGHTS ALREADY!!! <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hate produces hate</span>, even within our own community.<br /><br />NO WE WON'T.<br /><br />We WILL only then be the haters and the discriminators and oppressors. Just as hate produces hate everywhere it has produced it in some of us.<br /><br />I want to post some excerpts of something I have posted before, in January of this year at <a href="http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=8967">Pam's House Blend:</a><br /><p>The daily hypocrisy of the Anti-Gay Industry has ceased to shock me. It does however feed this feeling within me that right now is the time we all lay down <span style="font-weight: bold;">our</span> differences of opinion and <b>claim our human rights that as American citizens, <span style="font-style: italic;">we already have.</span> </b></p><p>Each of us need to believe that these truths do indeed apply to us just as they apply to every human being; "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."</p><p>Is not marriage the pursuit of Happiness? Is not a job, a decent home and the knowledge that our persons will not be attacked simply for how we were created? Is it not also for our children's security and happiness that we wish our relationships to be legalized? </p><p style="font-weight: bold;">What concept of full civil rights are parts of our family not understanding? How can we accept that any one of our family be thrown under the bus? Some have the opinion that if we get marriage first, it will make us seem less different. Some think the repeal of DOMA is the first step. Others want the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." Some feel if we could just not have to worry about the "trans-folk" or confusing "bi's" we would get everything we ask for. </p><p><span style="font-weight: bold;">When one is talking about human rights we should not cut it up just to make it easier for the oppressors to swallow. What message are we sending? That they, maybe, just maybe have the right to keep on oppressing us as long as we are able to take what crumbs are offered? </span><br /></p><span style="font-weight: bold;">Oh, I know how things get done in politics, we compromise, we cajole and we plead. With the vitriol spewing from the far right and the Anti Gay increasing, we need to be coming together like no group before us. And realize that if/when Prop H8 is overturned it will only increase. We need to take a unified, forceful stand now, at this time. If there ever was a time for an oppressed group to demand full and complete equality with no one thrown under the bus, it is this time, here and now. </span><p style="font-weight: bold;">No more compromise, no more empty promises, simply FULL equality.</p><p>I think we need to let the Equality Summit, HRC, GLAAD, Join the Impact and all our allies know that this is what needs to become the first, the only and the actual "Gay Agenda."<br /></p><p>There is something like this now, it is called <a href="http://www.thedallasprinciples.org/The_Dallas_Principles/Home.html">The Dallas Principles.</a> I am excited and cautious at the same time. I am excited because with those of us who are grassroots and not penthouse, it is a place to start. I am cautious because it is headed up by some the same folks who sometimes in the past have wanted to toss some of us under the bus. Who attend cocktail parties for equality and served under the Clinton administration who did more damage to our rights than many of us will admit. Maybe they have learned, maybe they are trying. I myself have signed the Principles. I believe those words they have written. I intend to be one who HOLDS THEM TO IT.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2