Gay Men To That!!

Photo credit: San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Caleb Douglas Hesse Do the most twisted elements on the religious right scream the loudest about the "evils" of homosexuality just to deflect attention from their own perversions?  I'll let you be the judge. Via Back2Stonewall: A longtime anti-gay activist, California Prop 8 donor,  and  elementary school teacher  was taken into custody  on August 17th after admitting inappropriate contact with young boys.Caleb Douglas Hesse, a teacher for the Morongo Unified School District since 1987 (most recently, he was teaching first grade at Friendly Hills Elementary School in Joshua Tree) and a longtime youth volunteer with the virulently homophobic  Evangelical Free Church of Yucca Valley , has  confessed to sexually abusing “numerous underage boys,” with authorities believe the crimes occurred between the early 1980’s and as recently as a week ago.” Investigators say Hesse met...

These are profound words coming from our Vice President.  He is saying to the world that this country is better because of gay activists.  The simplicity of his statement disguises the impact that they will have on young gay americans who hear them.  Thank you, Vice President Biden.  Your words are greatly appreciated! Via Politico: Vice President Joe Biden thanked gay rights advocates Sunday for advancing not just their own civil rights, but also the “civil rights of every straight American.” “You are freeing the soul of the American people,” Biden said to loud applause during a stop in Provincetown, Mass., according to a pool report. Biden honed in on the LGBT issues during his campaign speech at the Pilgrim Monument and Museum, which is located in a prominent gay community in Cape Cod. “If I had to use one adjective to describe this community it’d be courage," Biden said. "You have summoned the courage to speak out, to come out. We owe you.” In May, Bide...

Another step in the right direction.  It's always wonderful for struggling LGBT youth to see their sports heros and other role models speak out in their support for gay rights and speak out against bullying. Via The Advocate: The San Francisco 49ers have become the first NFL team to make an It Gets Better video featuring multiple players. Safety Donte Whitner, linebacker Ahmad Brooks, and defensive tackles Ricky Jean Francois and Isaac Sopoaga appear in the video, voicing support and encouragement for LGBT young people. “The San Francisco 49ers are proud to join ItGetsBetter.org, to let all LGBT teens know that it gets better,” Whitner says. “On behalf of the entire 49ers organization, we are on your side, and we promise it gets better.”

This image, originally posted on Atheism Reddit , shows the true extremes on religion in government and marriage equality.  Look at this image, understand the implications of how these issues have been framed and spread the word.  The cause of marriage equality is the neutral position. Found at Huffington Post:

Convicted Public Masturbator Grant Storm Wow!  This "man of God" who crusaded against the annual gay festival "Southern Decadence" in New Orleans was, in fact, partaking in his own little version of southern decadence.  In the video below, Cenk Uygur makes the point that the loudest preachers of "morality" are usually the most depraved members of the religious right.  This is, once again, proven correct. Via Huffington Post: A prominent Louisiana-based Christian pastor known for his anti-gay stance was convicted of obscenity yesterday after being caught masturbating at a public park near a children's playground  last year. As NOLA.com reports , Rev. Grant Storm was sentenced to three years' probation after the incident in Lafreniere Park. Storm is quoted as calling public masturbation "a thrill" in his confession. However, despite an eyewitness account  cited by the  New Orleans Times-Picayune  which stated that 55-year-old pa...

Dana Milbank It is ironic that Dana Milbank accuses those who have criticized his column, calling into question the SPLC's hate group designation of The Family Research Council, of not being nuanced in their view of the situation.  It is Dana who doesn't understand that you can be a hate group and not be violent.  His view that it is violence that should trigger the "hate group" designation is deeply flawed.  The lies that The Family Research Council spreads about the gay community can inspire violence.  The SPLC calling them on that hatred is appropriate and necessary.   From  Michelangelo Signorile   Via Huffington Post: Milbank was invited on my SiriusXM show to discuss  the column he wrote last week  which has generated much controversy on social media. In the comments section on the  Washington Post ’s web site and on Twitter and Facebook, many criticized Milbank’s defense of the FRC as a “Washington think tank” which thus...

This hilarious video is NOT SAFE FOR WORK and well worth watching.  The price list for the various "services" is great!

This is a wonderful, heartwarming story about a local business that goes out of their way to make things right for a bullied college Student. Via Towle Road: Jordan Addison told WDBJ-TV that his car was vandalized four times between March and May of this year and that someone even keyed “die” into the side of the vehicle because he is gay. Addison said the lowest estimate he received to fix the car was $2,500, but that he just couldn’t afford to repair it. Some Roanoke businesses heard what happened and pitched in to fix the damage for free. “Once I saw the vandalism that was done to it I said that’s uncalled for we’re gonna fix your car that’s the least we can do,” said Quality Auto Paint and Body’s Richard Henegar Jr. The auto body shop repainted the car and even added in $10,000 worth of extras for Addison.

Michelangelo Signorile Michaelangelo  Signorile is a very skilled debater but does it really matter?  Will Tony Perkins ever  admit that his words and actions are hateful?  His very livelihood relies on demonizing gays and lesbians.  I know this debate would not change his mind but it may change the minds of some people watching it.  I say "bring it on"!! Via Huffington Post: Dear Mr. Perkins, Let me again express my strong condemnation of the shooting at the Family Research Council offices, as well as my support and concern for all those affected. Security guard Leo Johnson, who took a bullet (and luckily did not lose his life, and is currently in stable condition), is a hero who saved others from being shot. I'm enormously grateful for that. As I  wrote here  last week, whatever the gunman's motives, they are twisted and utterly unacceptable. This shooting is an outrage and should send a chill through everyone on both sides of thes...

Chris McMurray Chris McMurray and his wife own a bakery in Radford, VA.  He was approached to have his bakery host  Vice President Joe Biden for a press visit.   Via WDBJ7.com: McMurray said the Vice President's entourage got to the point and made its pitch. "She said they have selected 'Crumb and Get It" to be his stop on his way to Blacksburg and was wondering if that was ok." Here's the part that might make other business owners crazy. "This is an opportunity of a lifetime but essentially I said 'No offense to you or the campaign but I just decline you guys coming in here. At that time she said 'Are you sure? There's going to be a lot of press, a lot of activity,’" McMurray said. Why in the world would a new business owner say "no" to a photo op with the Vice President of the United States? McMurray said it was President Obama's recent remarks about small business and who built what. "Very simp...

Wonderful!  Simply, Wonderful!

Family Research Council's Tony Perkins After the Terrorist shooting at the Hate Group Family Research Council Headquarters, its Founder Tony Perkins says that being labeled a hate group is the cause of the shooting.  He blames the Southern Poverty Law Center for...well...telling the truth about their hateful ways and accurately designating them as a hate group.  Perkins claims that he is just espousing a "traditional biblical view" of homosexuality but ignores other "traditional biblical views" or simply doesn't care about them.   Via Huffington Post: As authorities revealed details about the Family Research Council shooting, the head of the influential conservative organization blamed the attack on "reckless rhetoric," but then delivered his own politically-charged remark, saying critics gave the accused gunman "a license to shoot an unarmed man." Tony Perkins' comments Thursday fanned already-inflamed statements from b...

Do you see what I did there?  I described the situation accurately.  Both sides in this story are wrong; The Family Research Council for spreading lies and hatred about the gay community and the idiot "gay activist" who reacted to that hatred with violence. Via The Washington Post: A security guard at the  Family Research Council  was shot and wounded Wednesday morning after a scuffle with a man who expressed disagreement with the group’s conservative views in the lobby of the group’s headquarters in downtown Washington, authorities said. D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said the shooter walked into the lobby of the building at about 10:45 and was confronted by the security guard as if the guard were asking him where he was going. The man then took out a gun and opened fire on the guard, Lanier said. The guard and others wrestled the man to the ground, disarmed him and waited for police, she said. The guard was then taken to the hospital and is in stable c...

General Mills Protester Michael Leisner Michael Leisner is the second high profile Anti Gay "activist" who has recently died of a heart attack.  The first was Chick Fil A chief Spokesman  Don Perry .  My condolences to both families.   What do you suppose anti gay extremists would have said if both of these men were pro gay activists?  Do you think the right wing religious zealots would have called this God's judgement? Via Huffington Post: Michael Leisner, the gay marriage opponent who received national attention after  video of his failed protest at General Mills  went viral, has died, according to police. The pastor at Leisner's church in Minnesota told the Smoking Gun that the  65-year-old died of a heart attack  in his car on Saturday "while waiting in his car for two of his children to finish playing tennis." Leisner's protest, which was aimed at General Mills' support of same-sex marriage, was posted to YouTube on Aug. ...

This may be the best thing I've seen on the interwebs, EVER!!  If you're not familiar with Steve Kardynal from his "Shake Weight" video, you're missing out on some funny shit!! Yummy!...on both screens!! Here's the Video in all it's glory! Here is the "Shake Weight" Video

Calendar front cover We still need to see this.  Gay children need to know about this, especially in these times, when our freedom of speech is considered less valid than those who oppose us and our relationships.  We need to hold up these examples to show the world that we have always existed and we always will.   Via The Advocate: Ryan Grant Long's education encompassed graphic art and design, LGBT studies, anthropology and sociology. It all comes to bear in his MFA project from 2009. Below, Long writes on the project: For my MFA thesis show, I designed a calendar that explores same-sex affection throughout history. I chose the calendar format for several reasons, not least of which is that the calendar is one of the most ubiquitous art forms on the planet. In contrast, LGBT people are often cast as the abnormal, subversive or abject "Other," even (or especially) in academic "queer theory" discourse. This work stands to correct that, inasmuch as ho...

I believe in reincarnation.  I believe that this is one of many lives that I have lived and will live.  In this life, I have chosen to not have children.  I do not regret this decision.  I live with my Husband of 19 years.  We have a great life together.  We are childless and content.  perhaps in the next life. Michelangelo Signorile makes the point of not wanting children and being happy with his life.  As gay marriage becomes more acceptable, so does gay parenting and the pressure gay couples feel to have children.  I'm with Michelangelo.  If you don't want children, don't have them.  Don't fall into the false belief that having children will make your life complete.   Only you can do that. Via Huffington Post: I do not want kids. I never wanted kids. Even as a kid. Don't get me wrong: I'm really happy for my gay and lesbian friends who've always wanted kids and who now have them. I like children; often find them ...

As does Mitt Romney .  Even with the Chick Fil A "reframing" loss , the march for gay rights is gaining momentum.  For the sitting President and his challenger to both vocally support opposition to this ban says volumes on the status of the "culture war" Via Huffington Post: President Barack Obama expressed his opposition to the Boy Scouts of America's  reaffirmation  of its policy of excluding gays on Wednesday. The president called the rule, which was  renewed in July  after a two-year review, "discrimination"  in a statement  to the Washington Blade . “The President believes the Boy Scouts is a valuable organization that has helped educate and build character in American boys for more than a century,” White House spokesperson Shin Inouye said. “He also opposes discrimination in all forms, and as such opposes this policy that discriminates on basis of sexual orientation.” The ban has been faced with opposition by some former scout...

OMG! I so need to be BFFs with this guy!  Funny stuff!!

The Greensboro four protesting for dignity Since the Mike Huckabee Chick Fil A appreciation day on Wednesday, many gay activists have questioned the wisdom of protesting Chick Fil A's financial support of hate groups.  I can't believe I had to write that sentence! Granted, the homophobes won the battle by "framing" this as both a fight against freedom of speech and freedom of religion.  How dare we threaten the economic livelihoods of all those Chick Fil A employees because of the CEO's voicing of his "biblically based beliefs".   Should we even be making a big deal over a chicken sandwich? Once again, this is not about a chicken sandwich.  This is about demanding respect for who we are.  This is about calling out any group that actively fights against our rights , whether they make a chicken sandwich or collect change at shopping malls. Guy Branum writes very eloquently about this point by comparing it to the silly things that were protested ov...

My Husband and I took a trip to Fort Worth on Amtrak a few months ago and LOVED it.  The seats are roomy, the dining car was very enjoyable and the observation car had a great panoramic view of the beautiful Texas landscape.   Via Metro Weekly J.C. Penney did it and now so has Amtrak. It has launched a promotional campaign that includes gay families. As part of an effort to market its standard discounted family travel program, for the first time, the national passenger rail company included gay families in its materials. In an online ad sent by Instinct magazine to its email subscribers, a photo of same-sex parents with their child is featured. Two version of the ad, one with a picture of a male couple and another with a female couple, were distributed.  Both versions include the headline: Priceless Family Moments Are Now Affordable.  The ad goes on to promote Amtrak's 50% off campaign for children age 2 to 15 who are t...