Pam Spaulding's Blog, page 113
January 3, 2011
Today Show Features "My Princess Boy" Author and Son
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After young Dyson began grabbing for "girl's toys" and pink, sparkly dress-up outfits, his parents became, at first, alarmed and uncomfortable that their little boy might be gender-dysmorphic."I like to dress up in different kinda clothes, and jewelry," says Dyson. His favorite outfit of all is that of a princess. Cheryl Kilodavis and her husband, Dean, came to accept and embrace their son and his budding, authentic self. When Dyson decided that he was going to wear a princess costume to his school's Halloween day, Cheryl called the school and told them what was going on. Dyson's teacher, Judith Hart, called together the entire staff for support and she got it-even three of the school's most "macho" male employees dressed as ballerinas for the day to show support for the "Princess Boy"!
As part of her own process towards acceptance, his mother Cheryl Kilodavis, wrote and published a book, My Princess Boy. The description reads:
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My Princess Boy is a nonfiction picture book about acceptance. It tells the tale of a 4-year-old boy who happily expresses his authentic self by enjoying "traditional girl" things like jewelry, sparkles or anything pink. It is designed to start and continue a dialogue about unconditional friendship and teaches children -- and adults -- how to accept and support children for who they are and how they wish to look.
I am happily sharing the upcoming schedule of events; if the Kilodavises are near you, please stop by and say hello.
What a fortunate boy, to have such support, acceptance and advocacy within his family.
Prop 8-supporting pastor bagged on multiple child molestation charges
Isn't it always the sanctimonious Godly Perverts -- who make the most noise about "protecting" marriage from loving same-sex couples -- the ones who spend time engaging in horrific acts with those unable to grant consent to any of his urges. (Sac Bee via Queerty):
The pastor of the Rio Linda Baptist Church is being held in Sacramento County Main Jail on $6 million bail, charged with multiple counts of sexual child molestation.If that isn't enough, Daniels, in addition to his role as pastor, is also a foster parent and day care provider -- giving him 24/7 access to children. The crimes allegedly occurred from 2004 to 2007, and multiple victims came forward to name their assailant as Daniels.Citrus Heights Police announced late Thursday that Tom Gene Daniels, 48, was arrested Dec. 9. Lt. Ray Bechler said police had postponed publicizing the arrest while they continued their investigation into the case.
Lavender Newswire reported on Daniels' contributions of $200 and $30 to ProtectMarriage.com. It's no surprise (as these things go the storyline hardly wavers) that the 110-member congregation at Rio Linda Baptist Church supports Daniels, officially charged with "lewd or lascivious act with a child under 14 and engaging in three or more acts of sexual conduct with a child."
January 2, 2011
Conversation with a straight Presbyterian ally
Over the holidays I had the opportunity to speak with an old friend who is on staff in a Presbyterian church (PCUSA) in northern New Jersey. She's been a straight ally for over 30 years, so I was curious to know how her allyship might play out in her church and if it doesn't, what are the roadblocks. She teaches in the church's pre-school and directs the children's choirs, so her job description doesn't necessarily put her in a natural advocacy role that, say, a pastor's or youth leader's might.I invite you to eavesdrop on our conversation with an eye towards respectful understanding that every congregations is different, and that there are complexities involved in being an LGBT advocate in a denomination that like President Obama "isn't quite there yet". My take away from our conversation is that for my friend's congregation, internal politics and lack of leadership are barriers to developing a new mission of active LGBT inclusion and advocacy.
This is not to say that I am looking to make excuses for the silence of some of our allies, but that the potential for progress always looks clearest to those farthest away from the action. If you have straight allies who are people of faith but have faced roadblocks to living their allyship as people of faith, how have you helped them strategize ways around those roadblocks? Please share your experiences in the comments.
A note on where LGBT people stand in relation to PCUSA
From what I can tell, PCUSA doesn't have any set policies regarding transgender people. PCUSA seems to view everything through the lens of sexual orientation. The document The Church and Homosexuality published in 1978 and augmented by a 2005 study guide is the denomination's guide for how "homosexuals" should be viewed by and treated in the church. The Church and Homosexuality essentially says that gays are to be lovingly included into the life of the church and if celibate may be ordained as lay leaders or clergy, but that sexual relationships between two men or two women are sinful.
In 1997 PCUSA amended the denomination's constitution The Book of Order (pdf) to ban the ordination of "unrepentant" lesbian, gay or bisexual lay leaders or clergy.
Those who are called to office in the church are to lead a life in obedience to Scripture and in conformity to the historic confessional standards of the church. Among these standards is the requirement to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness. Persons refusing to repent of any self-acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin shall not be ordained and / or installed as deacons, elders, or ministers of the Word and Sacrament. (G-6.0106b)"The confessions" referred to above is the part of The Book of Confessions called the Heidelberg Catechism which lists "homosexual perversion" as a sin. The current version of the Heidelberg Catechism reads:
Q. 87. Can those who do not turn to God from their ungrateful, impenitent life be saved?
A. Certainly not! Scripture says, "Surely you know that the unjust will never come into possession of the kingdom of God. Make no mistake: no fornicator, or idolater, none who are guilty either of adultery or of homosexual perversion, no thieves or grabbers or drunkards or slanderers or swindlers, will possess the kingdom of God."
The original Heidelberg Catechism was written in the 16th century and made "no mention of homosexual perversion or of same-sex relations in any terms", according to scholars. "Homosexual perversion" was added in 1962.
Efforts have been underway for about 10 years to remove the 1997 rules barring partnered LGB people from ordination. In July, 2010 at the 219th PCUSA General Assembly the church's legislative body voted 373 to 323 to replace the 1997 anti-gay ordination language with text that ignores the sexual orientation and relationship status of the candidate. This vote must be ratified by 2/3 of the presbyteries (local governing bodies) and then again by the next General Assembly in 2012 to go into effect. A similar effort was defeated in 2008 when the presbyteries declined to ratify the change.
At about the same time "The Church and Homosexuality" was adopted, the kernel groups of what would later become More Light Presbyterians formed. More Light Presbyterians is a "network of people seeking the full participation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of faith in the life, ministry and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA)." They maintain a listing of Welcoming Churches.
My conversation with a straight Presbyterian ally
You've been a member of this church for almost 18 years. What's it like to work in your own congregation?
"Very dicey. It's a tricky position to be in. I can't always state my personal feelings, because I'm a staff member even though I'm a congregant." In other words, she doesn't know whether congregants will interpret what she says as reflecting the church administration or her personal opinion. "It's a tight rope, a fine line."
She's never experienced difficulties stemming from this dual role in the church because "I'm cautious. I do not like confrontation. So I'm not going to voice my opinion in any kind of situation where I'm going to have to become combative. So I make sure I'm not in those positions."
"When the presidential election was going on, this past one, the one before -- oh the one before was horrible -- because we have a staff member who is very Republican, very conservative, and no one else on the staff is."
The situation (which hilariously in retrospect included a bumper sticker war) escalated to the point where "we actually said in staff meeting, you know we really have to kind of leave our politics outside of this building because we have congregants that go both ways and you don't want to set a precedent that you can't work with somebody that has a differing opinion."
"And that's specific to the history in our church and some other things that have happened that divided us where they could not have differing opinions and work together. It's taken almost 10 years to heal something else that happened. It was a horrendous time where some staff members could not even grocery shop in town. If they saw somebody who was on the opposing side, they would be screamed at."
This decade-old divisive event was due to an event within the church rather than external politics, but "it set up this feeling in our church that you can't have any kind of differing opinion, because obviously we can't play together in the sand box if we don't agree on everything."
Of course nobody agrees on everything, and so the church has been on tenderhooks since. But hope is on the horizon. "A minister left, we've gone through a couple years of interims, and now we just now this month got our permanent head of staff who has a degree in counseling. So there's going to be a difference now I believe, and he's going to force us over time to say ok, we can have differing views, and we can still work together for a common good".
"I know other churches go through these kinds of things, and this is just where our church is right now."
Has the congregation had to deal with any major problems during these past 10 difficult years, or has it been pretty quiet?
"Things have been pretty quiet because everbody's scared. In the mainline churches you're losing members, so its pretty quiet. The one issue particular to our town is undocumented workers. That is a huge problem here. Where do you stand as a church on that? Do you feed and clothe them even though they're undocumented, even though the Mayor is kicking them off the street? Then do you go against the Mayor? People whose cause this is have moved to the side and quietly done all the work they want to do on it, and the rest of the congregation doesn't pay attention because they don't care."
So the rest of the congregation isn't obstructing that work?
"They're not obstructing them, although I know some of the older people in the church hate that. They want all the undocumented workers kicked out. But they don't say anything, they just say OK that's your thing I'm turning my head because there's the sense of we need members, can't upset anybody."
Over the past 10-15 years, membership in the church has gone way down. "Whatever the national average is, we're probably right there with them. It's down substantially. ...People are just too busy - they don't come to church. I don't know whether they don't believe, it's the only day of the week I can sleep in blah blah blah, all the excuses you've heard over the years.
National polling shows the United States to be very religious, but apparently that doesn't translate into as great a need to attend weekly church services as in the past.
Does the denomination interfere in issues of the local congregation or are you free to work out your own problems?
"In the Presbyterian Church you're in your own church, then you're part of a presbytery, which is a regional grouping. And then the national office in Louisville, KY is in charge of everybody. So from what I can tell, it comes down to how active, how good the head Presbyter is in terms of what they let you do, not do, get away with."
"Part of what's going on in the Presbyterian Church is we have huge congregations in the South who, as you can guess, are a lot more conservative. That's also true of some of the California churches - the big money California churches are more conservative than people would think. And these huge churches are deciding they're going to leave the Presbyterian faith because they don't like the direction the Presbytery is going in."
And what direction is that? "Being more inclusive, being gay friendly. But those aren't the only issues. There are all kinds of management and administrative issues of which I'm not part of because as a staff member I can't be in the ruling body of a congregation."
Why are you a gay ally?
"Well I don't know, I just always have been! Why wouldn't I be? Obviously because of you is a good part of it, but part of it is, I was a music major. Basically, I was surrounded by gay guys. If I wasn't friendly, I wouldn't have had any friends. I can't say that I was in high school and before because frankly it wasn't on my radar and I didn't even know what it was even. And if I did I probably snickered like it was something funny. And then I got into college and had this rude awakening like oh! Oh, OK! So I guess that's it. I just never wouldn't have been from the time I got into college.
There's a difference between treating gay people fairly and being an advocate -- and advocacy takes all kinds of forms. For example telling people you're gay-friendly and why, I call that advocacy. Do you see advocacy happening in your congregation either formally or informally, for example like with the congregants helping the undocumented immigrants, that it's a calling for them?
"I don't really see it in our congregation, and I think it's because we don't have a leader. There's not someone who says 'My son's gay and he needs equal rights so let's go after them.' I don't see any of the kids saying 'I'm gay, I need support,' because they would have it in the church - our church would support them. If somebody was there and asked, it would happen, I think."
"When I've been around some of the older -- like I'd say 80s and up -- opinionated people who throughout our congregation's history have always caused trouble, those people will make cracks about 'well you can just go to the Episcopal church down the street and have a gay man, you know, feed you the lord's supper' or something, and they'll make those kinds of comments, and you just look at them and go, you are so old. Because I would say from age 80 down, most of the congregation does not feel that way. They would not make that kind of comment. Because almost all of them know somebody gay or have someone in their family who's gay. And so maybe some of them are advocates and are out doing things, but we don't talk about it."
"We refer to ourselves as 'the frozen chosen', which means that we're pretty stiff, tight-lipped, don't talk about stuff."
When the New Jersey legislature was voting on marriage equality this year and the Catholic church was aggressively lobbying against it, was any of that conversation brought into your church?
"No. Our church, we were looking for our new minister and that's all we focused on. Oh, there's a tsunami in the rest of the world? Oh well. We were focused on oh my goodness, we're losing members, oh my goodness we need a new person to come here, oh my goodness I hope they don't screw up and get an awful person like they did last time. They had such blinders on, and then the only room they have is for their own particular cause."
"We have people who their cause is helping the Katrina places, and twice a year they take a week or 2 weeks of their vacation and go down and build houses and paint houses and do Katrina stuff. We have people that go to the Dominican Republic every year. We have people that do a clothing bank out of the basement of the church every Tuesday for the undocumented workers."
So your church is very mission driven.
"We are extremely mission driven. Remember where we dropped the oranges off that one year? We started that men's mission. Our church does a lot of mission stuff, but they don't talk about it, they don't advertise it. And in fact when new people like new ministers come in they say 'What's wrong with you people? You should be out there telling what you're doing.' But of course we don't because you're not supposed to do that. You're not supposed to wave your flag and say 'look at all the good deeds I do'."
Reading some of the PCUSA literature you'd think this was the place to be for gay Christians because it talks about being joyously inclusive, etc. But reading deeper you see it states that gay relationships are a sin. So there's a jarring disconnect there between treating people with humanity but then telling them their relationships are depraved. In your 18 years at your church, what kinds of things have been said about gay people from the pulpit?
"The minsters have preached on tolerance, that's their big thing. When __ was here, whatever gay issue the General Assembly was debating that particular summer, he gave a very good sermon that mentioned a big church change like allowing women to serve communion. I don't remember exactly but something big like that. He said that took 125 years to get change. He said it seems so simple to us, it seems like a no-brainer, but it took 125 years, or whatever the years were, but it was huge like that. He said we're starting the conversation now about allowing gays to serve communion, or whatever it was that particular summer, but it was something about a gay issue. But he said, for the people who are disappointed in how it turned out I say to you, it took 125 years for women to serve communion. He said, we'll get there in the end, but it's a process, so don't give up."
"I remember that sermon because I though, oh my goodness, he's pro-gay, he just said it from that pulpit in a round-about way, and he actually did a sermon I can tell you about this many years later, that's how much it struck me. But never again. He never said anything about gays again. Then he left."
"The next minister was definitely pro-gay and talked about his uncle being gay and how hard it was to watch people not accept him, but didn't really say -- all his sermons were about himself, so he didn't tell us to do anything."
"And then any of the interims we've had, who I can tell you whole-heartedly would be all pro-gay -- because interims are far better than regular ministers as far as I can tell -- and they're more able to let people know how they feel because they're going to be there 1 or 2 years. So they are much easier about telling people how they feel, but again never calling people to arms or go fight for gay marriage. I never heard that from the pulpit, I just heard 'we're all God's children' kind of thing."
"And then our most recent interim, after Tyler Clementi died by suicide ...she did a sermon that was just, 'what is wrong with us that we would be in this society that we would allow this, that a child would not feel safe to go talk to somebody'. She said all the kids' names -- But again, her message was we need to love one another. Period."
Not 'we need to make sure that gay people in our congregation know we're there to support them'?
"Right. No, it was, we're here, we need to love and accept each other, and that's our mandate from God. Period. Be loving."
So that was your most recent interim. You have a permanent pastor now?
"Yeah he just got here this month so I have no idea. So we'll see with him. He seems to be tolerant on the 'we need to love each other' kind of thing, but we'll see how that translates, you know."
It sounds like in your church none of the ministers would be opposed to someone in the congregation starting a gay advocacy project, but the clergy isn't going to initiate that.
"Exactly. I would agree with that. And they are walking a fine line, because they've got that 80 year old congregant who is in the last parts of their life who, and I hate to be this way but, who's basically funding the church. Because of course the people with money are the older people. People who are younger, with families, they're not giving as much money to the church. And I don't want to say you rule the church by money, but it is an important thing that somebody that's giving a lot of money, is paying your salary. So you have to at least acknowledge that they feel a certain way."
A religion-positive pollster recently showed that 2/3 of Americans "see connections between messages coming from America's places of worship and higher rates of suicide among gay and lesbian youth." At the same time, people tended to think their own church handled gay issues well.
"Wow."
So the perception that churches are a detriment to gay people, that's a widespread impression.
"Well and I think its those conservatives that do that. I mean I would say that I think those conservative churches are brutal."
I see two levels of problem. There are those conservative churches that preach anti-gay stuff from the pulpit. But then there's a category of churches which I would put yours in -- tell me if I'm being unfair -- and that is just standing quietly by and maybe making occasional token efforts.
It was good that gays were mentioned positively in those sermons at your church, but scared gay people can tell a meek token effort from something more substantial. When the only religious voices out in the wider world are the homophobic ones and they don't get countered out there by the loving ones, I think that's noticed. It's not that the neutral churches like yours are doing anything wrong, but they're not doing anything to counteract the nasty stuff that's going on in the public square. It makes them look like accomplices even though they're not.
"Yeah. I can see the undocumented workers probably feel the same way, the tea party that did something on the town green probably feels the same way. It's a difficult place to be in a mainline church, and I think until someone comes to be the captain, or to say 'this is important to me'.
That would seem to make sense for a church like yours where people are already very busy doing good things. Your church does sound amazingly active in the issues it's engaged in.
"Pretty much the people who are still members are the people that do stuff. And it might not be very much because they're busy, but they try and do something. But they're not the people who are going to start anything. The people who start ministries -- like one women found a connection in Newark so that for the holidays if you get a free ham, you take it to her, and she started with filling the trunk of her car and now she rents a truck 3 or 4 times a year to take all this stuff to these families in Newark -- we're doing a whole block now, helping this block out -- but that was her, she happened to meet someone and talked to her and started a new mission. And it's those kinds of things where it's one person."
"But of course here's the bottom line: she was retired. All these things that start like this are retired people. They've got the time, they've found meaning in something to do that inspires them."
"The people in my generation who I would say, as it comes down in age where I would say I'm certainly gay friendly and an ally, but you go down to my son's generation, they don't even think about it. It's not even in their vocabulary to be gay-friendly because they just are. They don't think about it. So as it goes down in generations, the group coming up I think there'll be changes.
Was there anything else that came to mind that you wanted to mention?
"It's really interesting in talking, I'm thinking well how would our church even have a discussion? And I thought OK, we do an adult morning seminar at 9:15 and they have different speakers, all kind of speakers: we have interfaith marriage speakers coming in because we have a lot of Presbyterian-Jewish families in our congregation; the migrant worker speakers come in, the undocumented workers speakers come in. And I thought, you know, we could have somebody come in and talk about the gay issues and the problem that somebody sees around the church and I thought that would be one way. And I'm thinking, how could I get them in the church?
That could be a very calm, non-confrontational way to broach the subject.
"I work with the woman who runs the committee who gets all those people in. That would be an interesting way to see who showed up to listen to it."
And also to test the waters to see whether that very gentle approach would ruffle any feathers, although I would presume that anyone whose feathers would ruffle just wouldn't come to it.
"I would believe that. I do believe we have people in their 60s and 70s in our congregation who do have gay children. So it would be interesting to see who would come and who wouldn't. Would the regulars all come or not? I'll suggest that to the coordinator, and she'll take it to the committee...because you know we've got to do everything through a committee. The committee is made up of people my age, so they'll probably think it's a good idea. I think they did their layout through May already, but certainly for the fall. They're always looking for ideas.
How shall I refer to you in my post, how specific or not specific shall I be?
"You can say I'm from northern New Jersey. I thought about, can she use my name? You know I'll go out there and trumpet gay rights and I have no problem saying to anyone that I'm pro-gay, and I would say that the the parents of the children that I work with, but there's something about putting my name, and I work with children. Because people can be so fricken bizarre about children. And I have to tell you, in our church we had a convicted pedophile. And nobody was happy with it but they dealt with it, but that's who they know as being gay. Not good! We need some other gay people in our church!
Yes you definitely need some regular out gay people in your church!
"And we probably do have some but I wouldn't know them because I can't hang out with the congregants of the church because I'm working. There could be a whole sub-culture, I don't know.
You know, you just momentarily became an honorary gay person by having to think in those 'will they assume I'm a pedophile' terms. I've always been extremely self-conscious around kids because I know the assumptions about gay people, and they're not true - there's a difference between pedophiles and gay people.
"Exactly! And I do make a big point about that when I talk to people. And I have a little more leeway because I'm a woman. If I was a man, wow, they have a horrible time of it. I can be pro-gay and say things and because I'm a woman I think people would not respond as negatively as if I were a man."
January 1, 2011
Sign of the Apocalypse: Fox News makes fun of religious right over CPAC controversy
crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters
I loathe religious right groups for the lies they tell about the lgbt community. And I despise the Fox News channel for its constant mantra of distortions and propaganda.
So how the hell do I react when a Fox News program, Red Eye, makes fun of social conservatives, i.e. religious right groups over their decision to boycott the conservative CPAC conference simply because of the inclusion of a gay group, GoProud?
Just hold my nose and enjoy the show. As an extra attraction, Red Eye also makes fun of our "favorite homophobe," Porno Pete LaBarbera:
Hat tip to Joe.My.God
Anti-LGBT, bestiality-suggestive Navy videos produced by captain w/your tax dollars; SLDN responds
"Captain Owen Honors was acting more like the president of a frat house rather than the executive officer of the U.S.S. Enterprise. We call upon the Navy to investigate this matter thoroughly. It is very important that the most senior leadership make it absolutely clear that this kind of bad behavior and poor judgment is not only unacceptable, but that there is no place in the Navy for those who engage in this sort of frat house behavior in the workplace."
--Aubrey Sarvis, Army veteran and executive director for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
Wow. And to think that the Pentagon was tiptoeing over whether gays and lesbians can openly serve. Jeebus H... I can't believe this disgusting behavior by a commanding officer in the name of "fun."No wonder the military has a problem dealing with changing its culture - it's not the homos in the ranks that are the issue; it's Porky's mentality. (Military.com):
In one scene, two female Navy sailors stand in a shower stall aboard the aircraft carrier, pretending to wash each other. They joke about how they should get six minutes under the water instead of the mandated three.What an irony - a captain named "Honors" -- there sure isn't any in this news. By the way, do you feel a bit lighter in your pocket? It's the sensation of Honors and his charges pickpocketing your tax dollars to produce this shite.In other skits, sailors parade in drag, use anti-gay slurs, and simulate masturbation and a rectal exam. Another scene implies that an officer is having sex in his stateroom with a donkey.
They're all part of a series of short movies produced aboard the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier Enterprise in 2006 and 2007 and broadcast to its nearly 6,000 sailors and Marines. The man who masterminded and starred in them is Capt. Owen Honors -- now the commander of the carrier, which is weeks away from deploying.
Honors called the showing of these videos "XO Movie Night." One of those who handled the video shoots said " He was the one coming up with scripts and the jokes. He was the one planning it ."
The videos, obtained by The Virginian-Pilot this week, were shot and edited with government equipment, many of them while the Enterprise was deployed supporting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.At the time, Honors was the carrier's executive officer, or XO, the commanding officer's deputy. He took command of the ship in May.
In the videos, Honors indicates that he's trying to entertain the crew. They were shown roughly once a week on closed-circuit shipwide television, according to a handful of sailors who were assigned to the Enterprise at the time. The sailors requested anonymity for fear of retribution.
Please go read the rest. It's extremely disturbing giving how much time, effort and tax dollars were spent just in 2010 to stall movement on DADT repeal with that long-winded, freepable study about "concerns" of service members re: gay and lesbian troops.
The videos with Capt. Owen Honors were shot and edited with government equipment in 2006 and 2007. Here is one featured on the Pilot's web site.
Anti-LGBT, bestiality-suggestive Navy videos produced by captain -- with your tax dollars
Wow. And to think that the Pentagon was tiptoeing over whether gays and lesbians can openly serve. Jeebus H... I can't believe this disgusting behavior by a commanding officer in the name of "fun."No wonder the military has a problem dealing with changing its culture - it's not the homos in the ranks that are the issue; it's Porky's mentality. (Military.com):
In one scene, two female Navy sailors stand in a shower stall aboard the aircraft carrier, pretending to wash each other. They joke about how they should get six minutes under the water instead of the mandated three.What an irony - a captain named "Honors" -- there sure isn't any in this news. By the way, do you feel a bit lighter in your pocket? It's the sensation of Honors and his charges pickpocketing your tax dollars to produce this shite.In other skits, sailors parade in drag, use anti-gay slurs, and simulate masturbation and a rectal exam. Another scene implies that an officer is having sex in his stateroom with a donkey.
They're all part of a series of short movies produced aboard the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier Enterprise in 2006 and 2007 and broadcast to its nearly 6,000 sailors and Marines. The man who masterminded and starred in them is Capt. Owen Honors -- now the commander of the carrier, which is weeks away from deploying.
Honors called the showing of these videos "XO Movie Night." One of those who handled the video shoots said " He was the one coming up with scripts and the jokes. He was the one planning it ."
The videos, obtained by The Virginian-Pilot this week, were shot and edited with government equipment, many of them while the Enterprise was deployed supporting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.At the time, Honors was the carrier's executive officer, or XO, the commanding officer's deputy. He took command of the ship in May.
In the videos, Honors indicates that he's trying to entertain the crew. They were shown roughly once a week on closed-circuit shipwide television, according to a handful of sailors who were assigned to the Enterprise at the time. The sailors requested anonymity for fear of retribution.
Please go read the rest. It's extremely disturbing giving how much time, effort and tax dollars were spent just in 2010 to stall movement on DADT repeal with that long-winded, freepable study about "concerns" of service members re: gay and lesbian troops.
The videos with Capt. Owen Honors were shot and edited with government equipment in 2006 and 2007. Here is one featured on the Pilot's web site.
New Year's Day Open Thread - plus a guide to debating a 'Christian'
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A bonus -- from the folks at AtheismResource.com, a handy guide to taking on non-reality-based fundies (should you wish to expend any energy doing so).
New Hampshire to LGBTs: Happy New Year! Now Die.
The "Live Free or Die" State is about to choose option B for its LGBT citizens. In November Republicans were elected in veto-proof majorities to both Houses of their Legislature -- 19-5 in the Senate, 298-102 in the House -- and it is their stated intention to repeal the marriage equality law that went into effect a year ago today. Taking away their citizens' freedom to marry, the state's motto leaves them but one other choice: death.
Already four Legislative Service Requests (precursors to formal bills) with intent to redefine marriage solely between a man and a women have been filed by members of the new legislature. It seems all but certain that one such bill will be brought up and passed in the coming session, vetoed by Democratic Governor Bill Lynch, and then a veto override attempted.
What will it take to sustain the Governor's veto? Assuming all remaining Democrats would vote to sustain the veto, it would take four Republican Senators, for a total of 9 votes of out 24, or 32 Republican House members, for a total of 134 votes of out 400 to deny a two-thirds supermajority. My understanding is that the former (finding four Republican Senators) is considered extremely unlikely, leaving it to defenders of marriage equality to round up at least 32 House Republicans (and possibly more, if there are Democratic defectors) -- approximately 11% or one in every nine Republican House members.
I certainly don't know if that can be done, and nothing I've read on the subject is making any predictions at this point. But according to SeaCoastOnline, Jim Splaine, who sponsored the existing law, has done some calculations:
Splaine looked at the numbers and said, if those who support marriage equality can find 50 or 60 Republicans "who will join the Democrats in upholding any veto," he believes they will succeed.
That's seriously depressing, if true, but math doesn't lie: it mean that he believes that at least 18 Democrats would defect and vote for repeal.
So what happens if such a law is enacted?
While the bill to legalize same-sex marriage in New Hampshire did not take effect for more than six months after it was passed, there is no guarantee that there would be any such delay if a repeal were to become law. In New Hampshire, each bill contains the date that it will take effect; there is no mandatory waiting period.
No one knows yet whether the language in such a law would completely annul existing same-sex marriages, turn them into civil unions or leave them as is. The language may be vague enough, as was California's, to force a court to ultimately decide what the fate of the approximately 3,000 same-sex couples who have been married since January 1, 2010 is to be.
Another question is whether enacting such a law will trigger a new federal suit, similar to Perry v Schwarzenegger. It too would claim that revoking marriage equality violates the United States constitution. Unfortunately, it seems like such a claim would be a lot harder to make stick, since it will be much harder to point to animus on the part of the Legislature than it was in the Perry trial. In Perry, the defendant-intervenors were the group that organized and campaigned for the Proposition 8 ballot initiative. Unlike Perry, there will be no television ads seething with hatred to cite, no innuendo that gays are out to steal children for their agenda to point at, and no campaign websites spouting lies and bigoted attitudes to present as evidence.
If the Republicans touting this bill are sane (which they will not be, and thank something for that) all there will be will be speeches of the floor of the New Hampshire House and the Senate defending the 'sanctity of traditional marriage.' Seems hard to prove animus in a court of law from just that. Are national LGBT organizations or others willing to sponsor such a lawsuit without as strong a case, despite the success (so far) of Perry v Schwarzenegger?
Perhaps more importantly, are national LGBT organizations up to fighting these bills-to-be before they become law in any sort of serious way? So far I've seen little to suggest that national organizations like the Human Rights Campaign or the Courage Campaign are focusing effort on New Hampshire. Did they fail to learn the lessons of California in 2008, and then again, of Iowa in 2010 where the battle was never even joined?
From notes on their web site, the New Hampshire Freedom to Marry group seems to be organizing, but I suspect they will be outgunned, outspent and outpeopled by NOM and other hate groups unless there is aid and assistance from national groups.
Opponents of equality will stop at nothing to gain the victory they so desire: a rollback of human rights in New Hampshire. It's time for the LGBT Community and supporters to wake up from the pleasant dream that was the vote on Don't Ask, Don't Tell's still-to-be-realized repeal and smell the stench that is about to rise in New Hampshire. However badly I mix metaphors.
December 31, 2010
New federal task force on LGBT youth suicide prevention is launched
The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention today added three new task forces to address suicide prevention efforts within high-risk populations: American Indians/Alaska Natives; youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT); and military service members and veterans. ...Studies from organizations such as the Suicide Prevention Resource Center report that lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth are from 1.5 to seven times more likely to report having attempted suicide than their non-LGBT peers, while transgender youth are believed to have higher rates of suicidal behavior as well.
Co-leading the LGBT Youth Task Force are Kevin Jennings, Assistant Deputy Secretary, Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, U.S. Department of Education, and Charles Robbins, Executive Director of The Trevor Project, the leading national organization focused on crisis and suicide prevention efforts among LGBT youth.
"This task force will bring together the best minds in the country to combat suicide and make sure that every LGBT youth has the opportunity to grow up in a supportive, accepting community and to enter adulthood safely," Robbins said.
Encouraging is the systematic, scientific approach Action Alliance is taking. As we know with anything LGBT related, data collection and reporting can be woefully lacking. Back in November Action Alliance launched its first batch of task forces to "identify and develop systems and strategies to improve data collection and surveillance of suicidal behaviors, prioritize research on suicide prevention, and update the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention."
The Data and Surveillance Task Force will address many critical issues including the need for more timely data on suicides and suicide attempts, both of which would improve intervention and prevention efforts. This represents a major advancement for suicide prevention since it currently takes several years to detect new trends as they develop.The Action Alliance is coordinated by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) at US Department of Health and Human Services. SAMHSA also administers the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline."The Research Task Force will develop a dynamic, ongoing process that capitalizes on the latest discoveries, identifies the most significant gaps in current knowledge of suicide prevention, and prioritizes the nation's research efforts," said Dr. Thomas Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, and Research Task Force co-lead. "We will develop a process to prioritize topics in suicide prevention research; and with my co-chair, Phillip Satow of the National Council for Suicide Prevention and The Jed Foundation, the task force will look for ways to integrate science and service, which is essential if we are to bend the curve of suicide rates and ensure that suicide deaths decrease dramatically in the next decade."
Anti-gay VA official Eugene Delgaudio wants your contribution to his winger org NOW.
Oh the humanity! As non-profit and charitable orgs ask you for donations in the waning hours of 2010, look at who is begging for dollars to fund the anti-gay agenda -- none other than Eugene Delgaudio, the batsh*t member of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors in Virginia, who moonlights running Public Advocate of the United States. See the inspiring patriotic logo below.
This is the elected official who made the Blend for his incredible statement a few weeks back about the latest pat-down procedures by the Transportation Security Agency, saying it will be an all-out grope-fest for horny homosexual TSA wage slaves - "the next TSA official that gives you an 'enhanced pat down' could be a practicing homosexual secretly getting pleasure from your submission."
He also sent out an e-blast saying "You see, Homosexuals do not reproduce. They must recruit our children into their filthy perversion to increase their numbers."
So you can imagine how motivated you would be to open your wallet for Eugene on New Year's Eve as you read this e-blast...
More below the fold...
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Dear Friend,
Just weeks remain before Public Advocate reaches a critical deadline -- before every radical homosexual activist holds a copy of Public Advocate’s financial records in his conniving hands.
December 31st is the deadline for contributions to appear on the IRS 990, the public report that discloses how much money Public Advocate raised and spent in 2010.
But right now, our figures are falling short of my 2010 objectives.
If I’m to meet budget expectations this year, I must raise $102,595 with all checks postmarked before December 31st.
If I fail to raise $102,595 by December 31st, I’ll be forced to broadcast our weakness and vulnerability to the Homosexual Lobby.
After the brutal fights this year on the Gay Bill of Special Rights, the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the Homosexual Classrooms Act, the Homosexual Lobby must not find Public Advocate with little money left to fight next year.
Friend, don’t worry, no one in the Homosexual Lobby will ever know how much you’ve contributed to Public Advocate.
I assure you your personal information is fully protected and kept confidential.
But when I turn in my 990 next year, the Homosexual Lobby will know exactly how much money I raised -- and how much I still have left to oppose the Homosexual Agenda next year.
After November's election results, the radical Homosexual Lobby will be looking for ANY sign of weakness in the pro-family movement. Believe me, they haven’t given up.
And since they just defeated us by passing the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, they’re hungry for more blood. If they see Public Advocate’s treasury depleted they will have an opening to tempt newly-elected Congressmen into passing the Gay Bill of Special Rights, the Homosexual Classrooms Act.
Without your financial support and prayers, Public Advocate would be nothing -- totally helpless against the radical homosexuals’ assaults on our families.
Friend, you have done so much for our cause. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. Today, I’m asking you to dig even deeper. I hope to count on you for at least $50 -- $100 or even $200 if you can afford it.
Please don’t just set this email aside or delete it.
If we hope to best the Homosexual Agenda next year, we must end this year strong -- and the last thing I want to do is submit a public financial report that shows I clearly did not meet my budget goals for 2010.
That’s why I’m asking you to give whatever you can afford today.
My friend, I hope you understand why this deadline is so important to me.
Deviant Homosexual Operatives are about to know exactly how much I raised this year, and how much cash I have on hand to oppose their radical agenda.
The Homosexual Lobby utterly despises Public Advocate and ridicules all the work you and I do to defend morality in America.
The Human Rights Campaign, The Gay Task Force, GLAAD, The North American Man/Boy Love Association, and every other radical homosexual organization will be scouring our finance report to exploit every chink in my armor.
The consequences could prove dire for the American family.
Right now Homosexual Activists are plotting to tempt the newly-elected Republicans into passing their perverse agenda. They will tell them passing the Gay Bill of Special Rights will “expand the tent” and “keep you in the majority.
And I have almost nothing left financially.
I have the troops and volunteers.
I have their commitment to fight on.
I have the organization to take this battle to the front lines.
But without the financial armaments to take on the radical homosexual threat, I can do nothing while our government helps eradicate biblical morality from America.
And now that President Barack Obama and far-left Democrats have passed Thought Control AND repealed Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the threat grows more and more powerful every day.
I must know if I can continue to count on you -- if you’ll stand with me in reaching my budget goals before December 31st.
I hate having to tell you like this, but I have no other choice.
Money is so tight now that I may have to scale back critical pro-family programs at the worst time of year -- as Congress begins its new session in January.
As you know, my office doesn’t receive public funding for our important pro-family campaigns.
While the Homosexual Lobby continues to siphon millions of taxpayer dollars to bankroll ideological subterfuges like “AIDS Awareness” campaigns and radical “sex education” initiatives, I raise every penny from concerned Americans like you.
Today, my friend, I ask you to please make a generous contribution -- now, before it’s too late.
I pray I can keep all of Public Advocate’s programs running strong to confront the radical Homosexual Agenda and defeat the deplorable tactics of their shadowy Congressional cronies.
But Public Advocate can’t keep up the pace without additional financial support from pro-family patriots like you.
The radical Homosexual Lobby outspent Public Advocate 30 to 1 this year, and their dirty war chest continues to grow at an alarming rate.
Nevertheless, Public Advocate managed to check the Homosexual Lobby on several fronts.
We used your petitions to strike fear in the hearts of enough Congressmen and Senators to stave off a vote on the Gay Bill of Special Rights and the Homosexual Classrooms Act.
After facing these setbacks, however, the Homosexual Lobby is ramping-up their attack strategy.
They weren’t prepared for electoral wave that swept across America.
Now they’re promising never to let that happen again.
With anti-family Barack Obama ready with pen in hand, Democrats in charge of the Senate and weak kneed Republicans in the House, the Homosexual Lobby still has plenty of allies in Washington to ram though their perverse agenda.
They seek to force your state to recognize homosexual “marriages” from Massachusetts by repealing the Defense of Marriage Act, effectively making our victories in places like Maine null and void.
And moreover, you can expect to see the rest of the pro-homosexual bills like the Gay Bill of Special Rights trotted out before Congress once again.
They’ll be looking to exploit our every weakness in the months to come.
No wonder they’ll be pouring over my finance report like demented hyenas in search of fresh meat.
My friend, that’s why your emergency gift of $50 -- $75 or even $100 is so important.
Without it, the Homosexual Lobby will be able to show Public Advocate’s 990s to moderate politicians as proof there is no effective opposition to their agenda.
Not only that, if we fail to meet our goals we won’t be able to fund all of our pro-family programs next year -- we must not only show the Homosexual Lobby we have the funds, but we must also be able to follow through with the actually programs.
I am counting on you to stand by my side and to help me raise the funds I need by December 31st.
Only with your continued financial support and prayers can I continue to defend the American family in key battles across America.
My friend, whether you can send $50 -- $100 or even $200 -- or whatever you can afford -- I would be tremendously grateful.
You have been there for me in the past. I hope and pray you will pull through for me before December 31st by sending your most generous contribution.
Thank you, and God bless.
Sincerely,
Eugene Delgaudio
President, Public Advocate of the United States
P.S. I urgently need your help before December 31st -- the cut off for me to disclose to the IRS exactly how much money Public Advocate has raised and spent this year.
And after a long year of leading the fight to oppose the Homosexual Agenda in Washington, I have little ammunition left to fight back or mount an offense.
However much it pains me to say it, I haven’t met my fundraising goals this year -- and if I turn in a report advertising that fact, the Homosexual Lobby will exploit our weakness and move in for the kill.
Your emergency gift of $50 -- $75 or even $100 will save Public Advocate from certain defeat next year as the Homosexual Lobby still has many allies in Congress and the anti-family Obama White House.
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