Last week, I attended the Net Roots conference in Las Vegas. This is a yearly event where bloggers and grassroots activists meet to network and discuss strategy for advancing progressive issues. Net Roots began with fireworks, as the gay organization Get Equal staged a major protest on the Las Vegas strip that stopped traffic.
The demonstrators were demanding that hometown Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would prohibit firing people based on their sexual orientation. A total of twenty activists endured 106-degree heat to unfurl a large banner over a pedestrian walkway. Activists Robin McGehee and Lt. Dan Choi were among 7 people arrested during the protest.
Some, who believe Reid should not be pressured during a tough reelection race against loopy Tea Bagger Sharron Angle, questioned Get Equal’s action. However, I support their advocacy and believe it brought much needed attention to a bill that seems to be languishing in the Senate. The pressure and media exposure created by Choi and Get Equal is crucial for several reasons.
First, LGBT issues should not be considered radioactive. Politicians ought to be held accountable for their promises and proudly support equal rights at all times. With the American people overwhelmingly in support of ENDA, there is no excuse for timidity. The time to end discrimination in the workplace is today.
Second, there will always be tough political battles and there seems to never be a convenient time for elected officials to take a stand. The LGBT community was told to wait its turn when Obama was elected because there were complicated issues – such as the economy and two wars. But now, defenders of the status quo still say we should hold off to avoid causing waves during the contentious midterm elections.
If the Republicans win over one or both houses of Congress we will surely be told that nothing can be done because the Republicans are in charge. If the Democrats win, we might be asked to take one for the team because President Obama has a difficult reelection campaign in the near future. And if Obama wins, we may be informed that he does not have the power to act because he is a lame duck president?
There will always be excuses why apprehensive leaders, who gladly take LGBT money and votes, should not act. Meanwhile, as the politicians dither and justify inaction, more gay people are fired from jobs every day. And, an even larger number of workers remain closeted, fearful of losing their careers and facing financial ruin in this dreadful economy.
Third, there are those who claim that groups such as Get Equal should not be targeting “friends” of the LGBT community. I happen to agree with this logic, but believe one is only a true friend in the House or Senate if they are taking bold action to end discrimination. When Harry Reid moves ENDA through the Senate he will be amazed that protesters are no longer causing traffic jams in Las Vegas.
Fourth, some critics say that we should take a go-slow approach and only end one form of state-sanctioned bigotry at a time. This crowd says, we should not push for ending Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and ENDA in the same year.
This is nonsense and the notion of incremental action on LGBT issues is absurd. It is just as wrong to fire a person in the military, as it is to end a person’s career in the civilian workforce because he or she is gay. If a politician states anti-gay discrimination is morally repugnant, it is his or her obligation to seek out and end all forms of official bigotry at once.
Indeed, contrary to conventional beltway wisdom, eliminating anti-gay discrimination on the same day, through one bill, would be simpler than the current plan of having several protracted fights. It makes sense that once a single vote on a comprehensive LGBT rights bill is taken – the battle would be over with. The American people would see they have nothing to fear and life would move on. No one in Washington has been able to rationally explain how having Congress take one difficult vote on gay rights is more challenging politically than taking multiple tough votes. Only in DC is 10 bloody fights considered “easier” than one.
Finally, critics of Get Equal and Dan Choi, who also confronted Reid on stage in Las Vegas, like to portray these advocates as publicity seekers. However, I can’t understand how effectively using the national media to draw attention to broken promises is bad for the LGBT movement. These activists should be universally applauded for not allowing ENDA or Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell to suffer quiet deaths on Capitol Hill. The more noise they make, the more likely these bills will become law.
Choi and McGehee headline the best young crop of activists the movement has seen. They are smart, engaging, brave, media savvy and politically aware. Most of the criticism against them stems from jealousy or a need to defend failure to get the job done. As someone who has served in this movement for two decades, I am proud to have these advocates on my side and thankful for the vitality and verve they bring to the LGBT movement.
Oh, Rob Tisinai, the Royal We heart you so much for this. As NOM runs around the country trying to claim the mantle of victimhood for their hateful cause, and as Maggie Gallagher and Brian Brown struggle to paint anti-gay people as good, loving Americans, the true animus of the anti-gay set is nonetheless coming through loud and clear. The following sign showed up at NOM’s pathetic rally in Indianapolis:
Nice. So Rob decided to fix NOM’s current logo, to better reflect their beliefs:
That makes more sense.
Rob also has video of an interview with the guy who brought that sign, who is hilariously wearing a baseball cap that says “No Marriage No Sex Exodus 20:14.” Can we mass produce those? Because that hat makes me giggle.
UPDATE: Oh my god, you have to watch the video. At first I was like “Oh, just click over,” but now I’ve watched the whole thing, and the fact that this old guy admits that he’s been “tempted” by attraction to men is just epic, I tell you, EPIC. This is the epitome of arrogant and stupid.
Madison, Wisconsin, is one of the most liberal towns on this planet. I hope Brian Brown and Maggie Gallagher weren’t actually surprised by what happened when they pulled the hate bus into town. The NOM Tour Tracker reports:
…a hand-counted crowd of 466 pro-equality supporters, my friends. Four hundred and sixty-six. Easily the biggest crowd yet!
NOM’s side? Arisha counts 54.
(…)
Poor Brian. Just as he and his family decided to re-join the tour, NOM was met with its largest equality counter-demonstration to date. 466 equality activists marched down the streets of Madison and up the steps of the State House to greet a decent-sized crowd of NOM supporters – relative to their other tour stops – that at one point reached 54 people.
Nonetheless, the massive upstaging of NOM couldn’t go by without a little spin from NOM’s speakers.
“Thank you all for coming,” Julliane Appling , a representative from Wisconsin Family Action began. “[We hoped our turnout would be larger], but our people actually have jobs.”
Maggie and Brian both cheered.
Ha ha, that’s great. When confronted by the fact that hordes of young people support love and equality, they’re forced to apologize for the absence of the chairborne shut-ins who support them by making pathetic comments about how all their people are “at work.” Riiiiiight.
Picture evidence:
There are lots more pictures at the above link, as well as one of Maggie Gallagher glomping her be-purpled body all over a podium, surrounded by her three biggest fans and some guy who just happened to be passing through the area. What adorable failures!
Ben Unger and Chaim Levin grew up in Orthodox Jewish homes in Brooklyn. They lived in traditional, socially conservative homes and tried to live up to the expectations of their faith and families.
They were gay, however, and were told they had to choose between being gay and Jewish – as if this were truly possible.
In a desperate search for “help”, Ben and Chaim found the “ex-gay” organization Jews Offering New Alternatives to Homosexuality (JONAH). This was the discredited organization founded by Wall Street con artist Arthur Abba Goldberg, who went to prison for massive bond fraud.
Goldberg promised to “cure” both men of their homosexuality and make them straight. He recommended that Ben and Chaim have therapy sessions with Alan Downing, a “life coach” who often conducted his practice out of JONAH’s headquarters. Downing is also a senior trainer for the controversial “ex-gay” outdoor retreat, Journey Into Manhood, which is run by the organization, People Can Change.
While Ben and Chaim were in “therapy”, Downing admitted that he was still attracted to men. In time, the sessions devolved into a “psychological striptease”, where the men were asked to strip completely named and touch themselves.
Both Ben and Chaim say they were harmed by the therapy and consider Downing’s actions highly unprofessional, unethical and inappropriate.
Unfortunately, groups like JONAH and People Can Change often place vulnerable people in the hands of unqualified, unhealthy “life coaches” and counselors who are struggling to accept their own repressed sexual orientation. This creates disastrous situations where unhealthy, predatory behavior can occur.
Fortunately, Ben and Chaim have come to accept themselves and now live as out, proud openly gay men. They warn Jewish LGBT youth to avoid fraudulent scams like JONAH and accept themselves.
Pride Source reported today that the Family Research Council placed a blatantly dishonest ad in the The Holland Sentinel that claimed, among several lies, that some LGBT people “spontaneously” go from gay-to-straight.
This was an odd claim to make considering the head of the “ex-gay” industry, Exodus’ Alan Chambers told the Lost Angeles Times on June 18, 2007:
“By no means would we ever say change can be sudden or complete…Sexual orientation “isn’t a light switch that you can switch on and off.”
Apparently, FRC missed that memo. They also failed to mention they backed a million dollar ad campaign in 1998 that featured “ex-gay” poster boy John Paulk. I photographed him in a gay bar on Sept. 19, 2000. Another participant in that ad campaign was Michael Johnston. In August 2003, attorney Michael Hamar and I revealed that Johnston was engaging in group sex with men he met on the Internet.
Given its sorry track record, why is the Family Research Council perpetuating the “ex-gay” myth?
FRC took out the outrageous ad in Holland, MI to counter a community group that is trying to make the town more accepting of LGBT people. The FRC ad, also sponsored by Request Foods, made reference to efforts toward broadening the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance to include sexual orientation and gender identity. The Holland City Council has referred the measure to its Human Resources Commission for review.
Among other things, the ad said homosexuals can be changed into heterosexuals “sometimes spontaneously, and sometimes as a result of therapeutic interventions,” that homosexuals experience considerably higher levels of mental illness and substance abuse than heterosexuals and that gay people are not seriously disadvantaged by discrimination.
If FRC was truly interested in how “ex-gay” therapy works in Michigan, they could have checked with Patrick McAlvey (video below). However, they never bothered to take the time and instead elected to spread hateful propaganda at the expense of truth.
I mentioned when Mike graciously invited me to post stuff here at Truth Wins Out, that I do political cartoons for my local gay paper, Baltimore OUTLoud. The topic for this week’s cartoon, NOM’s miserable failure of an event at the Annapolis Statehouse, especially appealed to me because it isn’t that often that I can tie a national story to my neck of the woods. But for most of you non-Marylanders to get the joke here, I need to show you a portion of the area in front of the statehouse were NOM held court…
Here’s a shot from NOM of Brian Brown speaking…
Notice those odd columns on the right hand side of the photo. You can almost make out the words “UNDER LAW” on the top. The NOM photographer must have been going nuts trying to keep what’s over there out of their shots of the event. Here’s what it was:
Thurgood Marshall was one of this century’s foremost leaders in the struggle for equal rights under the law. A native of Baltimore, Marshall graduated from Frederick Douglass High School in Baltimore and Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. He earned his law degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C. where he first met the great civil rights lawyer Charles Houston. After earning his law degree, Marshall returned to Baltimore and began his long association with the NAACP. In 1967, Marshall became the first African American to be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court.Following Marshall’s death in 1993, the state of Maryland decided to honor the great civil rights leader and jurist with a memorial at the State House in Annapolis. On May 17, 1994, exactly 40 years after the Supreme Court’s Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka decision, the governor of Maryland signed an Executive Order establishing the Thurgood Marshall Memorial Statue Commission. After a nationwide competition, the Commission awarded the design of the memorial to Maryland artist Toby Mendez.
Mr. Mendez’s winning design includes an 8′ statue of Thurgood Marshall as a young lawyer. Behind him are pillars with the inscription “Equal Justice Under Law” and facing him are two benches. On one of the benches is the figure of Donald Gaines Murray whose entrance into the Law School of the University of Maryland marked Thurgood Marshall’s first important victory in his struggle for school integration. On the other bench are the figures of two children representing Marshall’s most important achievement, Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka et. al.. Within the circle of the plaza is a chronology of the important events in Thurgood Marshall’s long and distinguished career.
You can just imagine the folks on those two benches looking over with bewilderment at the little group of earnestly heterosexual Americans exhorting anyone who would stop and listen that America isn’t really the land of the free unless some Americans are more equal then others.
NOM almost managed to get one videographer, Jethro Rothe-Kushel, arrested for taping the event. They’d apparently demanded that the Maryland State police keep all “protesters” across the street, and even though Rothe-Kushel wasn’t a protester, I guess his video camera was a little too threatening for the NOM folks so they got a state policeman to threaten him with arrest. All together, this gave me an idea for a cartoon…
I love it when the bigot bench practically draws my cartoons for me…
Recent protests in Albany and Providence spotlighted a stark difference in strategies among supporters of marriage equality.
Having lost civil public debates over the supposed merit of its immoral bigotry, the antigay National Organization for Marriage resorted this summer to a low-budget bus tour to state capitals: a tour whose sole intent appears to be to muster self-pity and victimhood among bigots who believe that discrimination, heterosexual adultery, and conservative Catholic pedophilia qualify as “Christian values.”
At one of the tour’s stops in Albany, New York, state and local equality advocates coordinated a creative counterdemonstration featuring rainbow umbrellas and white shirts with heart symbols that expressed the love that is at the core of the quest for marriage equality.
Days later, a larger and more energetic counterdemonstration featured one of the state’s smaller, more aggressive activist groups working with out-of-state allies. (The state’s largest equality group, Marriage Equality Rhode Island, did not participate.) Demonstrators confronted the antigay bigots with shouting matches and with noisemaker bottles that were filled with pebbles.
After the Albany protest, NOM humiliated itself with the feeble complaint that a rainbow umbrella had blocked one bigoted woman’s view. After the Providence protest, however, it seemed that NOM had exactly what it wanted: Video footage of uncivil homosexuals intimidating supposed victims of marriage equality.
Michael Crawford of Freedom to Marry on July 23 voiced concerns about the result of the Providence protest.
With their anti-gay summer tour, NOM is hoping to add to their false narrative of victimization. By holding events in communities across the country, NOM is hoping to evoke outrage and confrontation with supporters of the freedom to marry. Their latest propaganda video as a perfect example:
We can’t let anger get the best of us and feed into NOM’s false narrative that they will then use against us in court rooms and legislatures across the country. We must funnel our anger against anti-gay forces like NOM into constructive actions that will educate the public and move marriage forward.
Given the uncivil and untruthful tactics that NOM and its allies have used against equality advocates, anger and intimidation by equality advocates may seem justified.
However, in the struggle for the right to love equally, does it make sense to fight NOM’s deceit with anger rather than love? Is it wise to fight for our freedom by shouting down others the same way we have been shouted down by Exodus International and its allies in the past?
Is there a way to combine the energy of the Providence protest with the optimism and hope of the Albany protest?
Backed by hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. government aid and millions more from U.S. evangelical churches, the nation of Uganda is waging direct attack against the human rights of gay and lesbian people elsewhere across Africa.
Uganda’s New Vision reported on July 22 (via allAfrica.com) that “Uganda has opposed the pending recognition of a South African gay rights group, Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL), as an official observer at all African Union conferences, and to contribute to the NGO’s forum.”
The article quotes Ugandan ambassador Rosette Nyirinkindi as saying equal application of human rights to all is “alien to our culture and values. We shall continue to resist and fight them because common sense dictates against them. They are outlawed in Uganda and most African countries.”
In 2009, the United States committed nearly $300 million in supposed federal anti-AIDS funding in Uganda. At least $5 million of that was to be dispensed for military ventures through the U.S. Department of Defense; millions more in military aid were budgeted through other channels. Meanwhile, tens of millions of dollars annually from the federal anti-AIDS budget are being laundered through conservative Catholic and evangelical organizations that promote antigay, abstinence-only education programs which have resulted in a resurgence of HIV/AIDS in Uganda since 2004.
RH Reality Check criticized U.S. funding for anti-scientific, abstinence-only programs in an article today. The article blasts the government’s token efforts at “comprehensive” prevention:
If you give condoms only to groups thought of by society as “promiscuous,” what do you think will happen to a woman who insists on condom use with her husband that she suspects of cheating? If you do not provide information about using female and male condoms to young people, even if they successfully delay sex for years, how do you expect them to know how to use them once they start having sex?
“Comprehensive prevention” is not a country-level concept—it is an individual-level concept. Everyone has the right to, and the need for, full information about how to be healthy. That’s the only way it makes sense.
Each and every person served by PEPFAR prevention programs should receive full information about how to use condoms, and should have access to female and male condoms. Instead of pouring scarce resources in programs we know don’t work, we have got to start only funding true comprehensive prevention.
Millions of dollars that are not being spent on true comprehensive prevention are instead being invested in antigay evangelical campaigns to stigmatize and criminalize same-sex orientation.
Related:
The head of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, Eric Goosby, defends the Obama administration’s dismal handling of international HIV/AIDS relief.
Archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu asks Obama to reconsider his commitment.
A youth group warned Canyon Ridge Christian Church on Sunday that its members will be held accountable for bloodshed resulting from its support of antigay genocide and U.S.-sponsored theocracy in Uganda.
According to Prof. Warren Throckmorton’s article at Salon.com, the group — led by organizer Chase Cates — said that ”if this bill was passed and people were executed or criminalized in any way, Canyon Ridge Christian Church in turn would be held responsible for financing Ssempa who so overtly pushed the bill.”
The populist megachurch has openly supported Uganda pastor Martin Ssempa, who is a leading advocate for the nation’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill drafts of which call for the execution of HIV-positive homosexuals; imprisonment of family members, doctors, and clergy who fail to report gay relatives and patients to the authorities for execution; and the suppression of educational or scientific materials which discuss homosexuality without stigma or stereotype.
Via Box Turtle Bulletin, via Bilerico… Here’s a cheerful supporter’s sign at the National Organization for Marriage’s “One Man, One Woman” bus stop in Indianapolis today…
Timothy Kincaid adds, “That’s Larry Adams. When the Trial Trackers interviewed Mr. Adams, a NOM staffer advised him not to say “anything inflammatory” but seemed to have no objection to Mr. Adams’ signage.”
Nice. Let’s wave signs calling for gay Americans to be put to death, and whenever some counter-protester gets uppity about it, lecture them that hate is not a family value.
Not that millions of dollars spent to warn people that the homosexuals want to defile the institution of marriage in order to destroy families and invade the schools so they can turn everyone’s kids gay has any tangible impact on the lives of gay Americans…
A man identified as 36-year old Paul Michalik was found murdered early Sunday morning in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Michalik, who was last seen attending a party at the home of Brian Paul Brothers, was beaten to death by Brothers, in front of his partner of 17-years, allegedly because he was gay.
Wane.com reports that deputies with the Allen County Sheriff’s Department were called around 4:00 a.m. to investigate a disturbance. When they arrived, they found Michalik dead.
“According to court documents filed in Allen Superior Court Monday, Michalik and Jerry Lee Chambers, were at a party at Brian Paul Brothers’ House Sunday morning when the two were beaten up by Brothers,” reports Wane. Com.
News reports stated that Brothers kicked and punched both Michalik and his partner Chambers repeatedly with his hands and feet.
The Journal Gazette also reported that court documents also showed “a witness told police he [Chambers] and Michalik were beaten up by Brothers because of their sexual orientation.”
To Sylvia Tyszler, a friend of Michalik, the incident was clearly a hate crime.
Last week, I attended the Net Roots conference in Las Vegas. This is a yearly event where bloggers and grassroots activists meet to network and discuss strategy for advancing progressive issues. Net Roots began with fireworks, as the gay organization Get Equal staged a major protest on the Las Vegas strip that stopped traffic.
Pride Source
