Monthly Archives: April 2011

Hate and ignorance in Montana

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“‘Here, young man, your hormones are raging. Let’s go in this bedroom, and we’ll engage in some homosexual acts. You’ll find you like it.’” – Rep. Ken Peterson

 Not the worst pick-up line no?

Crooks and Liars has a must-read, and enraging article detailing how a Republican legislator in Montana, Ken Peterson, believes homosexuals should be face federal prosecution for  taking advantage and “recruiting” heterosexuals while their hormornes are going crazy. He also thinks gay men kissing in public should face a fine up to $50,000.  Continue reading →

Hungary – not a fan of the gays or women

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That authorities in Malaysia decided to round up potentially queer youngsters in order to teach them how to be more ‘manly’ was bad enough. Hungary has decided to institute a new constitution only the Pope could love:

Hungarian lawmakers approved a socially and fiscally conservative new constitution Monday that was blasted by rights groups and the political opposition for measures including a ban on gay marriage and protection of the life of a fetus from conception.

Additionally the document includes a ban against discrimination that fails to protect people based on age or sexual orientation.

Unfortunately the ruling conservative coalition has a two-thirds majority in the parliament which means they can pass whatever they damn well please and the opposition refused to take part in the drafting process which means the resulting constitution is a conservatives wet dream. Hopefully the good people of Hungary can prevent this travesty from actually happening, enshrining discrimination – against both gays and women -  in a country’s founding documents never leads to anything good.

Virginia rejects gay adoption policy

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State Board of Social Services voted 7 to 2 against new proposed regulations that would have added protections against bias during the screening process for sexual orientation, gender, age, religion, political beliefs, disability and family status.

The vote came after a hard push for the exact opposite by faith-based organizations and adoption agencies to allow them to include moral and religious beliefs in their screening process for potential parents.

Continue reading →

That sucks

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Dealing with bigotry and homophobia in this country is frustrating and depressing at times but I think it’s good to keep things in a global perspective. Things may not be perfect for gay people in America but at least they aren’t rounding up youngins’ that might be gay and sending them to re-education camps:

Malaysian authorities have sent 66 Muslim schoolboys identified by teachers as effeminate to a four-day camp where they will receive counseling on masculine behavior to discourage them from being gay, an official said Tuesday.

Given the harmful effects that homophobia and anti-gay rhetoric has in this country I really feel for the boys who have to go through this. The psychological harm of being told that the way you naturally act is wrong, shameful and must change before society will accept you must be tremendous. Plus, it’s pretty much accepted that no amount of counseling will stop people from being gay all it does is repress it which leads to much worse outcomes in the end both for society and even more so for the individuals involved.

House gives up $500,000 to defend DOMA

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The Republicans do it again, they don’t like a decision the President made, they flip him the bird and use their tax payer money to do what they wanted anyways.

The House Republicans have agreed to pay the firm King & Spalding $520 an hour and a maximum of $500,000 for services in defending DOMA. Partner Paul Clement,”will be principally responsible for conducting the Litigation.” You can read the contract here if you’d like.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi had much to say about the contract. She hit the nail on the head with a statement she issued Tuesday.

Continue reading →

The First Annual Anita Bryant Award for Unbridled and Unparalleled Bigotry goes to….

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The folks at GetEqual have decided to take ‘in their face activism’ to a more personal note by presenting Maggie Gallagher their 1st Annual Anita Bryant Award for Unbridled and Unparalleled Bigotry prior to her testimony in Congress last Friday…

Anita Bryant, of course, is the anti-gay crusader whose most lasting contribution to society is probably this video of her getting a pie to the face. Which, unlike her campaigns to prevent gay people from becoming teachers, actually might brighten a child’s day and certainly is good for a laugh every time I watch it.

R.I.P. Queerty

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Queerty has closed. The website has a message stating the site will be shuttered. Based on the information that I have been able to find, this appears to be a combination of events that lead to the backers giving up on the site.

Personally, I never really visited the site. I only recently heard about queerty.com from another post on this blog, but this news is hitting a lot of news sites, so I imaging this going to be a shock to quite a few people. Click the link to read the letter sent out by David Hauslaib. Continue reading →

Nothing new at the DOMA hearings

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Republicans in the House of Representatives are in a tizzy over the Obama Administration’s decision to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act in court. So they decided to spend their time last Friday listening to testimony from the National Organization for Marriage’s Maggie Gallagher and Edward Whelan of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. ThinkProgress went ahead and made a compilation of their testimony:

Nothing new to see here. Just the same old tired arguments and the claim that gay people who have long-term committed relationships and children aren’t really married because… well…. because conservative Christians say they aren’t! That’s why!

Sometimes I’m amazed that they manage to say the things they do with a straight face.

So You’re Engayged

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For same-sex couples it’s difficult enough to just get a marriage license but on top of that you have to find photographers and vendors and caterers who won’t try to turn the happiest day of your life into a nightmare.

Enter So You’re Engayged.

This nifty resource, started by wedding photographers Kelly Prizel and Lara Swanson, lists pro-gay wedding vendors across the country and they also have a blog with real life stories and tips on how to make getting hitched go off without a hitch. Need to find a bakery in Maine or a DJ in California? Their directory has it all plus reviews by flesh-and-blood GLBT folks so you know what you’re getting. So if you’re looking to make your wedding just a little easier, go check em out!