Pam Spaulding's Blog, page 5

Sign the Petition to get Congress to call out false anti-gay testimony

crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

In June of this year during a Congressional hearing on the Defense of Marriage Act, Sen. Al Franken exposed Focus on the Family’s Tom Minnery's attempt to inaccurately cite a study to defame same-sex households.

Earlier this year during another Congressional hearing on DOMA, National Organization for Marriage’s Maggie Gallagher committed the same distortion – i.e. inaccurately citing a study to defame same-sex households. Gallagher’s group (NOM) has also been called out twice by the Pulitzer Prize winning site Politifact for inaccurate negative statements it has made about the gay community.

The Family Research Council was declared as an official anti-gay hate group last year by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its tendency to spread propaganda about the gay community such as gays molest children at a high level and same-sex households harm children.

However, the head of the Family Research Council - Tony Perkins - is frequently called as a Congressional witness on many occasions from discussing issues of gay equality to the selection of Supreme Court judges.

In addition, there are at least 11 incidents of legitimate researchers and physicians complaining that morality groups such as Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council have specifically and intentionally distorted their work to demonize the gay community.

While there is a need for levity and  a desire for all sides of issues involving the gay community to be heard, the constant calling upon of these “morality groups” for Congressional testimony in spite of their irregularities mentioned does present a problem in terms resolving the issues of the gay community in a fair manner.

Therefore I have created a petition on Change.org asking that if ever these groups are called before Congress again, their testimony be given the highest level of scrutiny because said testimony could fraudulent.

To sign the petition (and I highly advise folks to do so), go here.

I decided to forgo a press release and let what I've written speak for itself. But allow me to elucidate further. Last year, the Southern Poverty Law Center broke down the lies of the religious right and how they demonize the gay community. Before SPLC's expose, the last time there was a thorough article about the religious right was in 1999 by Rolling Stone magazine. Both exposes (Rolling Stone's and SPLC's) featured almost the same cast of characters and the same accusations of lies. That means that in over 10 years time, the religious right has not altered the lies it tells about the gay community. And this is simply because the gay community has not confronted these so-called morality groups on the level that we should. The purpose of this petition is to garner attention and start a much needed confrontation with religious right groups. Their lies permeate so many aspects of our lives, from our right to marry, to our right to raise families, to our right to freely live with dignity and self-esteem.

 

Court Strikes Down Wisconsin Law Prohibiting Medical Treatment for Transgender Prisoners

By James Esseks, Director, ACLU LGBT & AIDS Project

Last Friday, we got a fabulous ruling from a federal appeals court striking down a Wisconsin law that prohibited prison doctors from prescribing medically necessary treatments for transgender prisoners. It’s a great step forward in the ACLU’s continuing effort to explain to courts and to the country that transgender people have health needs that should be taken seriously by our health care system.

For many transgender people, access to transition-related health care is crucial to their ability to live consistently with their gender identity. This health care takes many forms — psychological counseling, hormone therapy, presenting in the new gender, and, for some people, a range of surgical procedures. But since our society often doesn’t consider this health care to be necessary or believe that transgender people have a legitimate medical condition, most insurance plans don’t cover it.

As advocates for transgender people, the ACLU's challenge is to find ways to change the popular notion that transition-related health care is cosmetic or optional, rather than medically necessary to address a person’s serious distress. In the private health care world, we can and do advocate with employers and insurance companies for better coverage, but there are few legal claims we can bring.

But we can sue over the care provided to people in government custody — prisons, immigration detention facilities, or foster care group homes — because the Constitution requires that the government address people’s medical needs in those contexts. Bringing lawsuits over the care received in government custody not only helps people who are being mistreated, but also helps build a broader consensus that this care should be accessible to all transgender people. Wins like this can lead to coverage for transition-related health care in government programs like Medicaid and Medicare, and eventually to coverage under private insurance plans as well.

The 2005 Wisconsin law at the heart of this case was called the "Inmate Sex Change Prevention Act," and barred prison doctors from prescribing hormone therapy or surgery to transgender prisoners. The ACLU, in partnership with Lambda Legal, sued and got a preliminary ruling that any prisoners already on hormone therapy could continue their treatments. Last spring, the federal trial court struck down the law in its entirety, and last Friday, the federal appeals court agreed. Wisconsin argued that the law was constitutional because the state still provided some treatment — psychological counseling and antidepressants — for transgender people.

The appeals court was having none of it:

"Surely, had the Wisconsin legislature passed a law that...inmates with cancer must be treated only with therapy and pain killers, this court would have no trouble concluding that the law was unconstitutional. Refusing to provide effective treatment for a serious medical condition serves no valid penological purpose and amounts to torture."

Strong words indeed, but that’s just what we need if we’re going to change the way the country understands the medical needs of transgender people.

Hate crime killing on video: MS white teens beat black man, then drive over him in pickup truck

I caution you to think about whether you want to watch this video, since it's graphic, but honestly, if you want to see what racism breeds...

In Mississippi, young men decided that their entertainment for the evening was to go for a drive and kick the sh*t out of the first black person that they came across. (CNN):

(CNN):

The recently released footage shows the teens beating and ultimately running over 49-year-old James Craig Anderson. The suspects reportedly left a Hinds County, Mississippi party together with the intention of finding a black victim and drove to a nearby predominantly black area of Jackson where they attacked Anderson, the first black man they saw upon exiting the highway.

The incident was made available to CNN and shows a group of teens pulling into a parking lot and immediately attacking Anderson. The graphic images then show them going back and forth between their cars and Anderson, pummeling the man with punches and kicks. It ends with a shocking, detailed footage of one of the teens, identified as 18-year-old Deryl Dedmon, Jr., driving his Ford F250 pickup truck over Anderson as he sought to walk away from the scene of the attack.

Two teens are being held for allegedly beating Anderson repeatedly and yelling racial epithets, including "White Power!" according to witnesses.

The fact that these teens were ready to kill any black person they came across is chilling; it is very hard for me not to project myself in that situation - my life is worthless to people like this. Life snuffed out in an instant.

You have to ask yourself -- what kind of home life did these teens have? Was there bold and open racist talk by their parents that sowed the seeds of hate? What kind of diversity existed in their school lives? Mississippi has to own this kind of cultural nightmare; but so do a lot of states, even ones with diverse populations, that still deal with racism, colorism and violence over cultural differences.

We have come a long way in terms of laws on the books to address discrimination, but in other, darker corners of society, nothing much has changed at all for a slice of the population that sees people of color as expendible, exploitable, and an obstacle to their desire to remain socially segregated.

It really makes me want to weep thinking a drive into any "sundown town" area is still taking my life in my hands in 2011, but it is, even with a biracial President.

Barack Obama's election may be a cultural milestone, but in some quarters it has drawn out racial animus that formerly simmered below the surface.

We should not take this incident in Mississippi as some one-off in order to distance ourselves from the larger problem of unabashed racism that we saw great evidence of during the 2008 campaign. It's there, and we all own it.

James Craig Anderson paid the price because of our inability to address this national shame.  

Rick Perry's prayer rally a failed hot mess of hypocrisy

crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

Luckily I was away at a family reunion - celebrating actual love - so I missed Perry's hot mess of a rally. But according Right Wing Watch made videos of certain scenes. And they just kill me. How in the world can some of these people dare to pray to God for deliverance for the nation while ignoring their own sins?

People like Tony Perkins of the hate group the Family Research Council, pseudo historian David Barton who had made a career out of not only verbally bashing the gay community but also manipulating history to suit his beliefs, and Don Wildmon, head of another anti-gay hate group the American Family Association.

If you ever want to get an idea as to why Christianity is getting a bad reputation in this country, these folks are the culprits:

But there is some good news coming out of this. Box Turtle Bulletin says that rally was a failure in three regards:

Houston’s Reliant Stadium hold 71,000 people, but according to officials with Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s “The Response” prayer rally, about 30,000 people showed up. That should mean that the stadium would be half full. Doesn’t look like it to me. Failure #1.


Perry also sent invitations to every governor in the nation to attend his rally. The only one to show up was Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback. Gov. Rick Scott of Florida made a video that was played in the stadium. Only two others out of at least forty-nine — that’s failure #2.

The American Family Association’s Tim Wildmon addressed criticisms of the wholesale obliteration of the lines between church and state as represented by a religious revival organized by a political executive by saying “no political candidates will be speaking.” Candidate, perhaps not — although please, does anyone not believe Perry is running for president — but the criticism stems from two current, elected governors speaking from the stage with another one phoning it in. These aren’t just candidates. They are current office-holders sworn to uphold the Constitution. Failure #3.

FRC's Tony Perkins reduced to an unconvincing grin on Hardball

crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

Last night, Family Research Council head Tony Perkins debated Barry Lynn of the Americans for Separation of Church & State last night on Hardball and got hammered. The two were debating Texas Governor Rick Perry's prayer event (happening today) and its strange cast of characters.

The last time  Perkins was on Hardball, he was debating the Southern Poverty Law Center's Mark Potok on being named as an anti-gay hate group. Some of us got angry because we felt Chris Matthews, the host of Hardball, was too concillatory to Perkins.

I personally didn't believe that. I felt Matthews was overcompensating because he had covertly showed a degree of contempt to Perkins during the interview.

It wasn't the case this time as Matthews actually checked Perkins for trying to take the role of moderator away from him. Lynn, meanwhile, caught Perkins in a host of inconsistencies. Perkins tried the same modus operandi on Lynn that he attempted on Potok (i.e. accusing Lynn of "not doing his homework" and playing the victim.) Lynn, however, wasn't having any of it. By the time the debate was over, all Perkins could do was grin in that too familiar phony manner which many of us have come to expect from him.

All in all, it was an excellent segment.

Related post - Perry's prayer event will put Christianity's worst on display

Hat tip to Back 2 Stonewall.

Guest column by Rev. Irene Monroe: NPR's Foxification of ex-gay rhetoric

NPR's Foxification of ex-gay rhetoric

by Rev. Irene Monroe

If it were Fox News I wouldn't have flinched. But it was National Public Radio.

To my surprise, I didn't know -- especially in 2011 -- my sexual orientation was still up for debate. But on Aug. 1 on the "Morning Edition" of National Public Radio (NPR), it was. And the topic on the show that morning was "Can Therapy Help Change Sexual Orientation?"

"Today in Your Health, a controversy that is both political and personal. Conversion therapy is psychotherapy which aims to help gay men and women become straight. It's hardly new, but it's in the news again because the mental health clinic run by the husband of Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann reportedly provides such therapy," Renee Montagne, host of "Morning Edition" stated.

My head spins at the thought of how Christian counseling services, like Dr. Marcus Bachmann's, still get so much air time, especially, in spite of the voluminous information disputing the pseudo-science of "ex-gay" conversion therapies.

Just three years ago, the American Psychological Association put out an official position paper stating, "The longstanding consensus of the behavioral and social sciences and the health and mental health professions is that homosexuality per se is a normal and positive variation of human sexual orientation."

The negative health outcomes both emotional and psychological these "conversion" programs exact are untold and include depression, anxiety, self-destructive behavior, sexual dysfunction, avoidance of intimacy, loss of faith and spirituality, and the reinforcement of internalized homophobia and self-hatred, to name a few.

"It took really hard work to get my brain back and to recover from the emotional and psychological damage that I had experienced under that care," Peterson Toscano, a theatrical performance activist, stated on NPR. Toscano spent 17 years in conversion therapies and faith-based ex-gay programs. Today he's the co-founder of "Beyond Ex-Gay," (www.beyondexgay.com), an online community to help ex-gay survivors.

However, there are still groups, usually motivated by religion-based homophobic therapies and ministries like Bachman's, who are hell-bent on the idea that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) Americans can and should be made straight.

These groups proselytize ex-gay rhetoric as both their Christian and patriotic duty.

More below the fold.

For example, "Pray the Gay Away?," an episode of the television series "Our America with Lisa Ling," that aired on "OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network "on March 8 of this year, Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, an ex-gay organization, spoke about his sure-fire remedy for us LGBTQ "prodigal" children, and how his organization can help us reconcile our faith, mend our sinful lives ,and finally walk away from our supposedly wrong-headed "lifestyle" choice.

There are hordes of supposedly ex-gay "converts" who'll be poster children for these conversion therapies. But truth be told, their conversions from being "homosexual" to "heterosexual" don't "cure" their homosexual predilections, but rather these therapies attempt to put LGBTQ people on the road to outwardly live a straight life.

"It meant probably walking away from my religion, not having the wife and children of my future that I would expect, lots of shame and conflict with family and others. It was just devastating to contemplate," Rich Wyler, who grew up in a Christian conservative family, stated on NPR.

But, the truth is that these "ex-gay" reparative therapies have a failure rate of 90 percent, and several "ex-gay" groups over the years have had to shut down when their leaders finally dealt with the reality of their own homosexuality.

Case in point: John Paulk, "ex-gay" poster boy, who appeared in HRC's 2000 photo album with a one-word caption: "Gotcha!"

Wayne Besen, then the associate director of communications of the Human Rights Campaign, captured that Kodak moment as he snapped a picture of the then-37-year-old Paulk in a Washington D.C. gay bar. In the moment, pandemonium broke out in the bar, as the series of flashes from Besen's camera were assumed by some to be those of a homophobe harassing a patron. But as Paulk hunched down trying to conceal his face, he learned that he could neither run nor hide. Paulk says he went into the bar just to use the bathroom -- an unlikely story, as 40 minutes after entering the bar, he was still there, keeping company with both a drink and a fellow patron.

Paulk, a former drag queen known as Candi and a one-time first runner-up in the Miss Ingenue pageant, is presently married to a self-proclaimed former lesbian who also underwent counseling in an "ex-gay" ministry run by Exodus International. Today, they both don the drag of being heterosexually married. They prominently graced the cover of Newsweekin August 1998, appeared on "60 Minutes" and Oprah, and wrote the book that gave Focus on the Family its name for its "ex-gay" conferences: Love Won Out, a memoir depicting the Paulk's flight from gayhood.

"Conversion" therapies are a tool used by right-wing religious organizations to raise money and advocate against LGBTQ civil rights. And with this money these organizations are able to produce politically and religiously Biased Agenda-Driven (aptly abbreviated as "B.A.D.") science like "reparative therapies," attempting to justify them by presenting LGBTQ people as genetically flawed -- a charge eerily reminiscent of the scientific racism and sexism that once undergirded treatment of blacks and women morally inferior due to supposed genetic flaws.

Fox News is no friend to the LGBTQ community. But now I'm wondering about NPR.

NOM's Values Bus Tour will spread 'Santorum' and general homophobia

crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

It has been announced that the National Organization for Marriage is teaming up with several organizations and noted individuals in a bus tour across Iowa next week.

Supposedly, the Values Bus Tour will cover 1,305 miles in four days with events in 22 cities. The tour will pass through 47 of Iowa's 99 counties.

However, based on the participants, I am curious to know just what values is NOM pushing.

A member of the tour will be Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council. FRC has been named as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center because its tendency to spread junk science and propaganda about the gay community, such as the inaccurate notions that homosexuality is linked to pedophilia or how gays have a short lifespan.

Perkins, in particular, when he is not distorting legitimate studies or comparing gays to terrorists, busies himself pretending to not understand why SPLC called out his group.

Also participating:

Former Minnesota governor and current presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty. Pawlenty, believe it or not, used to be an ally of the gay community. That, of course, was before he found it more advantageous to rail about "cross-dressing school teachers" and veto bills which would allow surviving same sex partners from recovering damages in the case of wrongful deaths and execute their deceased partners' funeral wishes.

U.S. Rep. Steve King, who once said that allowing gay marriage would turn Iowa into the "Gay Marriage Mecca," a comment which he did not mean  in a positive manner. King also said that gays wouldn't face problems of discrimination if they would just not "project" their homosexuality. When King is not talking smack about gays, he has some interesting comments about African-Americans. Last year, he accused President Obama of unfairly "favoring" African-Americans.  Later that same year, he labeled government settlements given to black and Native American farmers who suffered decades of discrimination as "slavery reparations."

One wonders how King's participation will play to African-Americans whom NOM always seeks out in its endeavours against marriage equality.
Former Pennsylvania  and another current presidential candidate Senator Rick Santorum (check out the link to his last name), will also be on the bus tour. Santorum has based his career on being on a warpath against the gay community - including same-sex households. However, for some reason, the idea of marriage equality seems to really drive him nuts, as the following quotes prove:

“This is an issue just like 9-11, we didn't decide we wanted to fight the war on terrorism because we wanted to. It was brought to us. And if not now, when? When the supreme courts in all the other states have succumbed to the Massachusetts version of the law?"

"[The] right to privacy…doesn't exist in my opinion in the United States Constitution."

“[I have] a problem with homosexual acts, as I would with what I would consider to be acts outside of traditional heterosexual relationships . . . if the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual [gay] sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery.”

And the piece de resistance in NOM's bus tour - U.S. Rep and current presidential candidate Michele Bachmann. What can be said about Michele Bachmann that hasn't been already uttered? One could talk about her husband's fraudulent clinic's attempts to "cure" homosexuality. Or how, in 2005, she viewed a gay pride parade while hiding behind the bushes (maybe she thought gays would give her cooties or that the music blaring would cause her feet to do a bad "white girl dance" on their own accord). Then there was that 2004 comment connecting gays to Satan. Or these various other homophobic comments:

"You have a teacher talking about his gayness. (The elementary school student) goes home then and says “Mom! What’s gayness? We had a teacher talking about this today.” The mother says “Well, that’s when a man likes other men, and they don’t like girls.” The boy’s eight. He’s thinking, “Hmm. I don’t like girls. I like boys. Maybe I’m gay.” And you think, “Oh, that’s, that’s way out there. The kid isn’t gonna think that.” Are you kidding? That happens all the time. You don’t think that this is intentional, the message that’s being given to these kids? That’s child abuse.”

“This is a very serious matter, because it is our children who are the prize for this community, they are specifically targeting our children.”

“Don’t misunderstand. I am not here bashing people who are homosexuals, who are lesbians, who are bisexual, who are transgender. We need to have profound compassion for people who are dealing with the very real issue of sexual dysfunction in their life and sexual identity disorders.”  

All in all, NOM's "Values Bus"  tour ought to be interesting in a nauseatingly sort of way. And I know that there are many in the lgbtq community hoping for some type of  "Road to Damascus" conversion by some of the attendants or at the very least, a complete bus break down in the middle of lonely road in the blazing heat  or even better - in the dead of night (i.e. a recreation of the horror movie Jeepers Creepers 2).

It's aint gonna happen, folks. But if former NOM member Louis Marinelli's accusations are accurate, there should be a lot of expensive steak dinners and perhaps some gambling on this tour.

I wonder what Gallagher, King, Santorum, and Bachmann look like trying to "make it the hard way."

Mitt Romney Bows Before National Organization For Marriage

From Ben Smith At Politico:

Former Gov. Mitt Romney has joined Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Sen. Rick Santorum in signing a pledge to oppose same-sex marriage on a number of specific fronts.

The three candidates signed the pledge advanced by the National Organization for Marriage, which has led national and state campaigns to limit marriage to a man and a woman.

The signature of the frontrunner, Romney, is a bit of a coup for the group, as he's been careful about committing to other pledges, including a broad promise to a socially conservative Iowa group that caused trouble for other candidates. Romney, Bachmann, and Santorum signed on to supporting a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage, to appoint federal judges who don't see a Constitutional right to same-sex marriage, and to back the Defense of Marriage Act.

Yes, that's what the country needs, another amendment to the Constitution. Battles for ratification in 50 states! All to stop teh gheys from getting married (oh noes!). Way to show you've got your eyes on the big picture, Governor Ken Doll. That's the kind of leadership the country is looking for in these tough, economic times.

Moreover, signers pledge to repeal marriage equality in the District of Columbia (so much for small government) and make opposition to marriage equality a judicial litmus test (no activist judges granting gays equality based on reading the Constitution in a way haters disagree). My favorite is a promise to protect those poor traditional marriage supporters from being "harassed or threatened" by those mean, old gay bullies. Call the waaaah-bulance.

Seriously dude. This isn't going to help you win the nomination.

It will cement your reputation as a flip-flopping waffler that has no core principles. Nice way to remind the good people of your home state they're glad to be done with you.

A little comedy courtesy of the Family Research Council

crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

I am so glad that I receive daily emails from the Family Research Council because the organization is always good for at least a laugh. For example, take its defense of the American Family Association today:

Just yesterday, a homosexual group vilified the Governor (Sam Brownback of Kansas) for speaking at Gov. Rick Perry's "Response" prayer event in Houston this weekend. The Kansas Equality Coalition blasted Brownback for appearing at an event sponsored by American Family Association, which they describe--not as extreme--but "barbaric." We've partnered with AFA for years, and I can tell you that nothing the organization has ever done could be characterized as such. If spreading the gospel, defending family values, and protecting marriage is "barbaric," then Gov. Brownback has plenty of reasons to join the rally. Obviously, the misguided people at Kansas Equality could use the prayer!

Are they kidding? Check out AFA's definition of  spreading the gospel, defending family values, and protecting marriage via the words of one of its spokespeople, Bryan Fischer:

Of course it's not surprising that the Family Research Council has a warped view of morality, seeing that the organization itself isn't exactly the bastion of morality it claims to be.

I think it's safe to say that the Family Research Council defending the AFA against charges of barbarism is akin to Freddy Krueger defending Jason Voorhees against charges of being bloodthirsty.s

10 Things Senator Gillibrand Has Done For The LGBT Community

Made a big impact on the national dialogue on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" when she declared in June 2009, "I Stand With Lt. Dan Choi, It's Time To Repeal DADT."



Worked with Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin to set up the DADT hearings where Joint Chief of Staff Mike Mullen delivered his game-changing testimony.



Is leading the fight to repeal the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, including co-sponsoring the Respect For Marriage Act.



Co-sponsors the Uniting American Families Act.



Co-sponsors inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act.



Has made herself very available to the LGBT community, including many LGBT press media interviews and an afternoon discussion event at New York City's LGBT Community Center in October 2009, among other occasions.



Taped an It Gets Better video and puts action to words by cosponsoring the Safe Schools Improvement Act and the Student Non-Discrimination Act.



Personally lobbied her colleague, New York's senior Senator Chuck Schumer on marriage equality. Schumer, the highest ranking Senate member to endorse, announced his position change just months after Gillibrand's appointment to the Senate.



Continues to lean on the President on the issue of marriage equality.



Led the fight for marriage equality in New York. Rallying the troops in May 2011, she told The Advocate:

"We're going to win marriage equality in New York. I'm telling you."

She was right, and it was her efforts that helped enormously. She went on to tape a New Yorkers United for Marriage video. But more importantly, she put real skin into the game, lobbying behind the scenes. She promised to talk to all the New York State Senators-Democratic and Republican. And she did it.



After the fold, one thing the LGBT community can do for her.
Attend her LGBT fundraiser on Fire Island this Saturday.

It's a very good investment for this constituency and those who support the LGBT community.

Details: Saturday, August 6 | 2:30pm

Blue Whale Restaurant | 56 Picketty Ruff | Fire Island Pines | Tickets: $75

More information here, where you can certainly send your regrets with token of appreciation courtesy of Visa, Mastercard or American Express. Recommend it to your friends as well. I'm sure it will be a blast.

Yes, the Senator will be in attendance.