Jeremy Hooper's Blog, page 178

Today in anti-equality headlines that help our cause far more than theirs

You can almost hear the monologue that was going on in Jennifer Thieme's head when she, the finance director of the Ruth Institute (a former affiliate that abruptly ended its partnership with the National Organization For Marriage just last month) as she wrote the following headline and commentary. "This will show 'em up," she likely thought. "I'm going to make a really strong historical connection," she clearly hoped. "This will make the gays seem like the oppressive ones," she surely surmis...

GLAAD: Dennis Prager blames the gay sister for Cheney argument

Dennis Prager blames the gay sister for Cheney argument [GLAAD]

Nothing-if-not-desperate NOM now pushing anti-Obamacare spin

With so much misfortune now indelibly attached to its always misleading name, the National Organization For Marriage has basically turned into just another conservative organization out to attack anything this President (a marriage equality supporter; yay!) tries to accomplish. Their latest throw-at-the-wall-and-see-if-it-sticks tactic finds the pro-discrimination special interest group jumping on the anti-Obamacare bandwagon:

Obamacare's Marriage Penalties [NOM]

The claims come form the Herita...

Video: Having lost marriage battle forever, IL Family Institute back to 'changing' gay people

I've always said that the Illinois Family Institute is one of the most extreme state groups anywhere, largely because its leaders are quite open about their goal of personally eradicating homosexuality. And now that they've lost their marriage fight and equality is forever a part of the Land of Lincoln (yippee!), they are back to doing just that.

Yet again, we get a person with all kinds of family strife and hardship tales, which he conflates with his now-stifled sexual orientation:

The "ex-gay...

NOM EXPOSED: WaPo’s ‘Right Turn’ on NOM’s increasing lack of turns

WaPo’s ‘Right Turn’ on NOM’s increasing lack of turns [NOM EXPOSED]

Judge gives lesbian couple early chance to show meaning of life, marriage, family, commitment

In sickness and in health:

The U.S. District Court in Chicago ordered Cook County's clerk Monday to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple, one of whom is terminally ill.

Judge Orders Expedited Marriage For Gay Couple [NBC Chicago]

Marriage equality won't begin in Illinois, in earnest, until the summer of 2014. But I can't think of a better way to give the state a better taste of what it's all about.

Hopefully this appetizer will mask the lingering taste from that steaming pile of caca th...

Audio: Pastor Meeks tells IL congregants how to vote; doesn't say when he'll turn over his church's tax exemption

Pastor James Meeks was one of the leaders of the African American Clery Association, which was unsuccessful in stopping civil marriage equality in Illinois. Now out of options, Pastor Meeks has turned to anti-gay pastors' second favorite pastime: violating lines between church and state in a way that flagrantly flouts IRS tax code:

[SOURCE: Salem Baptist Church of Chicago]

Pastors who wish to enjoy tax exemption cannot tell congregants who does and does not deserve their vote. But they do it—AL...

I agree with Matt Barber...

...counterfeit "marriage" of any kind is surely a bad idea

But real marriage, free from unnecessary labels or smear quotes, is normal, biologically sound, in line with both history and the future, morally positive (or at least morally neutral), and well within the confines of any definition of sanity.

Matt's problem is that he does, in fact, describe a counterfeit unlike the one that now exists in sixteen states (+ D.C.). If he would stop counting on the fake currency that he and his movement's...

MassResistance advises its un-advisable movement

Realizing that their side is losing and losing hard, extreme-tongued organization MassResistance is advising its movement on ways it might "win" on marriage. Here's a snip:

We need to craft a solid top-to-bottom strategy that will effectively counter the homosexual movement's blitzkrieg lobbying and propaganda machine -- that uses our strengths properly and minimizes our weaknesses.



Much of this requires that we throw away our fears and understand what will work, rather than what we're "comfort...

How CA's anti-trans coalition will spin it, should they lose (*and they should)

With the referendum signatures just beginning to be counted, California's so-called "Prviacy For All Students" coalition is already teasing out the idea that some shenanigans might be threatening their potential. This comes from their latest email blast:

In the week and a half since PFAS submitted 620,000 signatures to the various counties, a number of curious events have been reported. And these could jeopardize the count.

Signatures collected in the 90 day qualifying period needed to be submi...