Jeremy Hooper's Blog, page 256

Report: IL has votes to free itself from marital discrimination's slipping grips

With just eleven days to get pass the marriage bill, this promising report out of Illinois:

Advocates: votes are there for marriage bill [Windy City Times]

As someone who happens to love both equal rights under the constitution and Chicago-style pizza, I couldn't be more hopeful. Invite me to your wedding, and I promise to not let my ritualistic eating of the latter make me late to the ceremony granting you the former.

David Barton: AIDS, meningitis are gay people's 'due penalties'

The conservative movement's favorite "historian", David Barton, wants you to believe that gays are inherently diseased and that no cure will ever be strong enough to fend off God's wrath:

*Source: WallBuilders Live, 5/20/13

"SHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! The adults are conducting research!" cries out the world community of credible and responsible virologists.

Are gay boys not boys? A look at the cruelty the equal Scouting opponents engender

Spotted at one of last Friday's "On My Honor" rallies against inclusive Boy Scouts. This was posted to the On My Honor coalition's official Facebook page:

[SOURCE: On My Honor]

So apparently it's not enough to deny gay boys and men of our worthwhile orientations. Some of these adults, who have every right and reason to know better, are trying to deny gay boys of their very boyhood. End result: More nasty messaging that tells some of the most vulnerable children in our population that they were...

Audio: The time VA Lt. Gov candidate E.W. Jackson directly connected gays to pedophiles

MSNBC's Daily Rundown just ran the following clip, featuring the Republican party's current nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, and attributed it to me. I thank Chuck Todd's team for reminding me that it exists:

*Source: Faith 2 Action 4/6/10

It's hard to out-anti-gay Ken Cuccinelli. But he, the man who wants to be Cuccinelli's right hand man in the Governor's office, actually accomplishes the task.

In Virginia this year, the "Lt." in Lt. Governor might just signify "Liability."

He also...

MassResistance: NOM a 'no-show' in Illinois

I can't say I'd blame the National Organization For Marriage for laying low in Illinois, considering the team fighting against marriage equality in the state is one of the most hostile local coalitions I have ever witnessed. But this is still interesting:

NOM a no-show

It's upsetting to report that the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) appears to be completely skipping the Illinois fight. No one we talked to has seen any evidence of anything NOM has done there, nor have they even been co...

FRC quite literally pitting God against little boys who happen to be gay, good at knot-tying

In the Family Research Council's latest round of "prayer targets," the viciously anti-LGBT organization first declares that inclusive Boy Scout programs "will have the exact opposite influence upon American morals than its founders intended," before then asking God to keep the gay boys out:

[FRC]

Remember, all this current policy change will do is allow boys to be in the Boy Scouts without fear that their sexual orientation might someday lead to their removal. While asking God to "move up on th...

Anti–equal Scouting coalition: All signs point toward fairness, but trust us—discrimination is right

The paid organizers trying to keep the Boy Scouts' anti-gay policy posted this reassurance to the "On My Honor" Facebook page:

A way to recruit fake "victims," that'd for sure. But as for me? I'll stick with the polls.

And now in news for the naive: As long as gay scouts are banned, boys won't discuss sex

I've already done a lengthy breakdown of the claims that John Stemberger and his crew are using to derail basic equality for gay Boy Scouts, so I won't rehash them. But I do want to highlight this one, particularly ridiculous claim that Stemberger makes in his latest document on the subject. Stemberger writes:

The proposed Resolution robs parents of the sole authority to raise issues of sex and sexuality with their kids. Parents should have the exclusive right to raise issues about sex and sex...

Supposedly marriage-focused NOM promotes Boy Scouts discrimination

They can say there are only focused on "protecting marriage" all they want. When NOM promotes events that have no purpose other than to keep the Boy Scouts' discriminatory anti-gay policies, they show their broader animus:

SOURCE: NOM's weekly email blast

As you surely know, the proposed Boy Scout policy change would simply allow openly gay minors (not even adults—just children) to remain in the program. That is what NOM is fighting here: Little vulnerable boys who, as of now, are kicked out if...

Supposedly marriage-focused NOM promotes Boy Scouts discirmination

They can say there are only focused on "protecting marriage" all they want. When NOM promotes events that have no purpose other than to keep the Boy Scouts' discriminatory anti-gay policies, they show their broader animus:

SOURCE: NOM's weekly email blast

As you surely know, the proposed Boy Scout policy change would simply allow openly gay minors (not even adults—just children) to remain in the program. That is what NOM is fighting here: Little vulnerable boys who, as of now, are kicked out i...