Critics say paid petitioners in Washington state are bullying and lying to would-be voters outside Wal-Mart stores in order to obtain signatures for a referendum against domestic partnership.
According to The Chronicle of Lewis County, Chehalis resident Michelle Watson and her 8-year-old daughter Allison accused Dan Ricca — a paid signature gatherer — of harassing them on Sunday. Watson wouldn’t sign, and said Ricca refused to relent, pressing her for information and following her in the parking lot.
On Monday, Ricca was seen stopping people outside the store, accompanied with a group of girls who fed three Chihuahua puppies on a table covered in signed and unsigned petitions.
In 2006, according to The Chronicle, Ricca was accused of filing fraudulent voter registration cards in California. The Chronicle also found that Ricca has been accused of multiple election and voter fraud schemes in Oregon and California in past years.
He was among a group of 10 men and two women named in a 2006 release from the California Secretary of State for filing fraudulent voter registration cards in Orange County.
A 5-month investigation linked Ricca and others to illegally filed petitions and the registering and re-registering of voters without their knowledge. A release stated that most of the frauds occurred in front of large retail establishments, specifically Walmart and Target.
A 2006 investigative report by the Orange County Register alleged additional wrongdoing, citing interviews from fellow petition gatherers and associates. There is no evidence Ricca was ever convicted of a crime.
In Bellingham, antigay petitioners are allegedly being paid $1 per signature to lie and claim that domestic partnerships are harming children and promoting homosexuality in schools.
For several weeks, The Stranger and the pro-equality group Know Thy Neighbor have criticized the Secretary of State for allowing false statements on the petitions.
Writer Matt Comer performed an excellent and difficult task for LGBT North Carolinians last week when he exposed a pattern of hate and incitement to violence by antigay activist Michael Brown.
Brown, who is a rising star on the ex-gay and antigay conference circuit, has organized a Christianist rally of 1,000 people to surround gay North Carolinians during pride celebrations this weekend.
Southern California already had its hands full with an invasion of giant squid when another squishy invertebrate washed ashore. At the Episcopal Church’ conference in Anaheim, California, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, wrapped his amoral tentacles around a proposal to allow more gay bishops.
Williams kicked off the convention with a deplorable speech urging the American church to, once again, abandon their gay friends and family members. His sole mission was to hold together the worldwide Anglican Communion and appease conservatives, even at the expense of the denomination’ decency and dignity.
“I hope and pray there won’t be decisions in the coming days that will push us further apart,” sniveled the feckless Williams.
Williams should understand that a church that uses bigotry as the glue that binds is not worth saving. Furthermore, his obsession with church growth has led to the embrace of sordid tyrants like Nigerian Archbishop, Peter J. Akinola, who is associated with shady activities, if not outright atrocities in Africa.
Fortunately, the American bishops made history and voted 104-30, with 2 abstentions, in favor of the pro-gay measure. The homophobes, of course, offered a heaping helping of hysterics and histrionics. It seems they just can’t find spiritual fulfillment without stepping on the dreams and aspirations of other people.
“It is breaking my heart to see the church destroy itself,” whined Bishop William Love of Albany, clearly betraying his family name.
Don’t you just adore how these divisive souls carelessly wield the wrecking ball yet always accuse other people of division and destruction? Without gay people to kick around, these troglodytes might have nothing better to do than focus on God. What fun would that be?
Now that the Episcopal Church has made a bold decision, one wonders if it can survive. The denomination of two million members decreased six percent between 2003-2007 and the recession has affected its finances.
It seems they are banking on the radical idea that a church can expand by promoting “inclusivity.” I hope that they are proven correct, but I have my doubts. It is no secret that the fastest growing churches have branded themselves as bastions of intellectual stagnation and social intolerance. The slogan for such places might read: “America may have changed, but you don’t have to.” (Read More)
The American Civil Liberties Union is requesting that Senate Bill 909, the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, be amended to include additional free-speech protections that are already contained in the House version of the legislation, H.R. 1913.
Linda Paris, an ACLU spokesperson, told the Blade that [Sen. Sam] Brownback’s [free-speech] amendment is insufficient and that her organization wants the specific language found in the House version of legislation included in the final passage of the bill.
The language ACLU is seeking reads: “Evidence of expression or association of the defendant may not be introduced as substantive evidence at trial, unless the evidence specifically relates to that offense. However, nothing in this section affects the rules of evidence governing the impeachment of a witness.”
Paris said passage of this provision from the House bill would “reduce or eliminate the possibility that the federal government could obtain a criminal conviction on the basis of evidence of speech that had no role in the chain of events that led to any alleged violent act proscribed by the statute.”
The Human Rights Campaign contends that the legislation’s existing protection for religious speech is sufficient. Nevertheless, Chris Anders of the ACLU says House lawmakers are likely to insist upon the revision in conference committee.
Focus on the Family, the self-styled “Christian” and “pro-family” organization, calls it “good news” that a West Virginia school board voted to exclude gay and straight students from the district’s anti-bullying policy.
The decision to vaguely oppose harassment without specifying specific types of harassment allows faculty to look the other way when disfavored categories of students are bullied.
According to Focus and the Charleston Daily Mail, the decision came after Focus’ truetolerance.org web site and the so-called Family Policy Council of West Virginia rallied parents and antigay pastors to smear the school district, accusing it of promoting homosexuality by opposing violence that is committed on the basis of the victim’s perceived homosexuality or heterosexuality. The FPC also falsely accused antiviolence advocates of seeking to promote affirmative action for bisexual teachers.
According to The Charleston Gazette, Jeremiah Dys of the FPC lied about professional mental-health organizations’ position on homosexuality. Dys falsely equated sexual orientation with gender identity disorder and, according to the Gazette,
noted that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [DSM] lists gender identity disorder [GID] as a medical condition. Teachers should help students with the disorder to get the medicine and treatment they need, he said.
Instead of educating West Virginia about the mental-health community’s knowledge of homosexuality versus transgender identity versus GID, it appears that the FPC and Focus have chosen to promote bullying and misrepresentation of the DSM in order to fool misinformed parents and faculty into sending gay youths into ex-gay indoctrination programs.
In a separate editorial, the Gazette condemned the board’s pointed exclusion of gay students from the district’s anti-bullying policies:
The board’s no-bullying policy protects blacks, Jews, the poor, Catholics, the disabled, Hispanics and other minorities. But the five members — Bill Raglin, Pete Thaw, Jim Crawford, Becky Jordon and Robin Rector — backed away from adding the words “sexual orientation” to the shield. Therefore, the policy says that blacks, Jews, the poor, Catholics, the disabled, Hispanics, etc., deserve respect and equality, but gays conspicuously are omitted.
Weaseling before a mob of fundamentalists, Raglin offered an amendment extending the safeguard to “any other status protected by federal, state or local law.” Presumably, he assumed that no such laws cover gays. Informed that Charleston’s human rights laws include homosexuals, Raglin quickly said he didn’t mean to apply the city rules.
The inclusion of sexual orientation in district policy had been sought amid reports of unpunished violence against gay students.
“Drive Thru” is the appropriate name of Focus on the Family’s new blog. Focus does not want readers to pause and think critically; it wants them to drive by, consuming junk as they go.
Authored mostly by Focus staffers with no academic or professional background in their assigned topics, the blog seems to be intended not to educate, but to give readers a passing glance at pre-digested political sound bites from an organization that is notorious for distorting the work of legitimate and respected researchers.
Consistent with Focus on the Family’s amoral disregard for legitimate ethical concerns such as poverty, war, justice, ethical business practices, and stewardship of the earth, Focus says its blog’s assigned topics consist solely of sex (opposition to homosexual orientation); gender (opposition to masculine women, feminine men, and transgender biology); abortion (Focus favors abstinence-only education which leads to pregnancy and abortion); bioethics; and gambling.
What a blow this [bisexual penguins] must be for pro-gay advocates who often attempt to justify what they see as the innate naturalness and morality of human homosexual behavior by pointing to examples of “homosexuality” in the animal kingdom — and then interpreting these behaviors through the lens of human experience, perceptions and desire.
Price’s conclusion is dumb enough to make any college-educated reader blush at Price’s inability to reason:
…If gay advocates insist on deriving lessons about human traits from animal behavior, then let’ do it. And let’ use our penguin brothers as examples that human homosexuals can and do change their sexual orientation. After all, Silo and Harry have walked away from their homosexuality. And so can we.
“We”? Are Price and his entire team homosexual? How does Price know that the penguins were formerly gay — did he engage in a quack-quack conversation with them? And finally, why does Price equate sexual identity with sexual orientation, without warning his audience that he has redefined both? Is Price too ignorant regarding his subject matter to even know what he has done?
Update, July 21: According to pinknews.co.uk, the parents of Bryce Faulkner are threatening to sue friends and youth-safety advocates that set up a web site to locate and protect Bryce from further abuse by an ex-gay re-education center.
A Wisconsin man, Travis Swanson, claims that last month, his 23-year-old boyfriend, Bryce Faulkner, was economically blackmailed by his parents into entering an “ex-gay” boot camp. Swanson believes that Faulkner is in a ministry in Florida, where the ex-gay organization Exodus International is headquartered.
When Faulkner’s family found out their son was gay, they reportedly told him to enter an ex-gay program or lose financial support.
“Sadly, Bryce Faulkner is not an anomaly,” said Wayne Besen, Executive Director of Truth Wins Out. “Ex-gay organizations commonly use coercion to recruit new clients and often play on the fears of parents. We hope that he is found and escapes this boot camp before he is brainwashed and emotionally scarred.”
“We will do our best to help find Faulkner and end the psychological abuse that young people face as a result of being forced into such damaging programs against their will.”
Faulkner was a pre-med student from Arkansas. He was reportedly about to come out to his fundamentalist family when his mother found email correspondence with Swanson. If you know of his whereabouts, please contact Truth Wins Out.
The U.S. Senate voted Thursday evening to attach Senate Bill 909, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, to a defense bill which faces a potential veto by President Obama.
The measure still has a way to go. Obama has told Congress he will veto the defense bill if it includes more money for an F-22 fighter program he is trying to terminate. The House in April passed a similar hate crimes bill, but did it as independent legislation not tied to a larger bill.
The Senate bill, also sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., only authorizes federal prosecutions of hate crimes when the state or local authorities are unwilling or unable to do so. It provides $5 million in grants to state and local law enforcement officials who have trouble meeting the costs of investigating and prosecuting these crimes.
Reid, D-Nev., recalled that Laramie, Wyo., was overwhelmed by the costs of pursuing the case against Matthew Shepard, the gay college student killed in 1998 whose name is attached to the bill. “When this bill becomes law, that will never happen again in Laramie, Wyo., or anyplace else in the country.”
Supporters also emphasized that prosecutions under the bill can occur only when bodily injury is involved, and no minister or protester could be targeted for expressing opposition to homosexuality, even if their statements are followed by another person committing a violent action.
The legislation against hate crimes has thus far survived a campaign of lies by religious-right organizations which favor lenient punishment of felony violence committed against persons whom felons assume are gay or transgender. People for the American Way has documented and refuted the religious-right deceptions in detail.
According to The Chronicle of Lewis County, Chehalis resident Michelle Watson and her 8-year-old daughter Allison accused Dan Ricca — a paid signature gatherer — of harassing them on Sunday. Watson wouldn’t sign, and said Ricca refused to relent, pressing her for information and following her in the parking lot.
Writer Matt Comer performed an excellent and difficult task for LGBT North Carolinians last week when he exposed a 
Authored mostly by Focus staffers with no academic or professional background in their assigned topics, the blog seems to be intended not to educate, but to give readers a passing glance at pre-digested political sound bites from an organization that is 
