Her headline makes me smile:

This should be fun. Whine, Maggie:

In a breathtaking exercise in ill-natured illogic, a divided Ninth Circuit ruled 2–1 that because Prop 8 does not take away civil-union benefits for same-sex couples, it’s an unconstitutional exercise in irrational animus towards gay people.

Uh, that’s not what they said.

Dishonestly, the court claimed it did not require any heightened scrutiny to reach this result.

No, actually they used Romer as precedent. It’s a famous case, Gallagher, look it up.

The very timid dissent (“please don’t go after me!”) points out that Baker v. Nelson is ruling precedent and that the differences between same-sex and opposite sex couples in terms of the state’s interest in responsible procreation could be rationally related to a legitimate state interest.

Yep, and Romer was two decades later. I mean, I’m sure there are folks out there who’d like the courts to appeal constantly to Dred Scott but they’re not good folks.

Back in 2004, when we fought about a Federal Marriage Amendment, gay rights advocates said we were alarmists for claiming that they would go to federal court seeking a right to impose gay marriage on all 50 states.

That was so last decade.

Boo hoo.

[h/t Blue Texan]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2012

Contact: Wayne Besen, Executive Director
Phone: 917-691-5118
E-Mail: wbesen@truthwinsout.org

TWO Addresses Concerns with Montgomery School Superintendent Joshua Starr in Open Letter

WASHINGTON – Truth Wins Out sent an open letter to Montgomery School Superintendent Joshua Starr strongly urging him to stop disseminating “ex-gay” fliers by the discredited organization Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX). The virulently anti-gay group distributed 8,000 sheets at five Montgomery County schools this week, even though Starr calls the fliers “reprehensible and deplorable.”

 “While non-profit literature must not be blocked based on viewpoint, it can and should be prohibited if it contains blatant misinformation that jeopardizes the health and well being of students,” wrote TWO’s Executive Director Wayne Besen in the letter to Starr. “The PFOX flier easily fits this description and the group has a dubious history that includes bizarre and bigoted practices that have no place in your public school system.”

The letter points out that PFOX board member Peter Sprigg, who works for Southern Poverty Law Center hate group the Family Research Council, once said that he wanted to “export” LGBT people and that he supports criminalizing homosexuality.”

In August 2010, PFOX president Greg Quinlan spoke at a conference organized by another SPLC- certified hate group, Americans for Truth About Homosexuality. In his speech, Quinlan made an outrageous and offensive anti-LGBT slur:

“I wasn’t your flaming faggot, you know,” Quinlan said. “I can say that because I’ve been there and done that. You know, the one’s whose wrists are so limp that when the wind blows they slap themselves in the face. I wasn’t one of them.”

At the same-conference, PFOX public speaker and convicted felon, Arthur Abba Goldberg, smeared LGBT people with ugly stereotypes disguised as scientific observation:

“By the way, did you notice that a lot of gays who remain in the gay lifestyle also do a lot of body building,” said Goldberg. “They will be in the gym a lot trying to build up their pecs…Because they have these body image issues and don’t feel they are masculine enough.”

“Let’s not beat around the bush: If an unsavory organization insulted other minorities with despicable epithets and demanded that they be ‘exported’ or jailed – no school in Montgomery County would be distributing their leaflets,” TWO’s letter said. “The fact that you would allow this politically motivated organization to spread its noxious message about LGBT people shows an unreasonable and unfathomable double standard.”

Furthermore, the former president of PFOX, Richard Cohen, was permanently expelled from the American Counseling Association for multiple ethics violations. Cohen is the individual most associated with the discredited mental health techniques trumpeted by PFOX.

“Why would Montgomery County want to place LGBT youth, already at an elevated risk for bullying, depression, and suicide in dangerous situations that can lead to tragedy?” TWO’s letter asks. “To continue allowing this specific organization into your school system is to court disaster. It is grossly irresponsible, reckless, and a dereliction of the primary duty of administrators to protect students from harm.”

Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that fights anti-LGBT religious extremism. TWO specializes in turning information into action by organizing, advocating and fighting for LGBT equality.

I’m still working my way through reading the Prop 8 decision and writing a post on it, but for now, here’s what NOM’s bigots had to say, courtesy of Towleroad.

First up, Brian Brown:

“As sweeping and wrong-headed as this decision is, it nonetheless was as predictable as the outcome of a Harlem Globetrotters exhibition game,” said Brian Brown, NOM’s president. “We have anticipated this outcome since the moment San Francisco Judge Vaughn Walker’s first hearing in the case. Now we have the field cleared to take this issue to the US Supreme Court, where we have every confidence we will prevail.”

And then John Eastman:

“Never before has a federal appeals court – or any federal court for that matter – found a right to gay marriage under the US Constitution,” said constitutional scholar John Eastman, who is chairman of NOM. “The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is the most overturned circuit in the country, and Judge Stephen Reinhardt, the author of today’s absurd ruling is the most overturned federal judge in America. Today’s ruling is a perfect setup for this case to be taken by the US Supreme Court, where I am confident it will be reversed. This issue is the Roe v Wade of the current generation, and I sincerely doubt the Court has the stomach for preempting the policy judgments of the states on such a contentious matter, knowing the lingering harm it caused by that ruling.”

Aw, boo boos. The fact that this is the first time a federal appeals court has “gotten it” is absolutely irrelevant. That’s kind of how courts work. It took a “first time” and a “never before” to desegregate our schools, to give women reproductive freedom, and a host of other things that are now simply understood as part of what it means to be an American.

is right here if you want to read it. I’m working my way through it right now and will update in a while with my thoughts on it, but if you want to dive in, go for it. Start on page 33 if you want to get right to the point.

Same old nonsense, different language: a handsome “ex-gay” therapist claims to be “ex-gay” himself, thanks to Jesus, etc. He was interviewed on Aquí y Ahora, a popular Spanish-language news magazine which made no effort to interview people hurt by attempts to change their sexuality or to mention that such “therapies” have been widely discredited. This propaganda appears shortly after the Ecuadorian government’s petition-fueled efforts to close the country’s ex-gay camps. GLAAD called them out, pointing out that Aquí y Ahora has done far better in the past (it has even been nominated for GLAAD media awards), while Ricky Martin sent a sarcastic tweet asking if heterosexuals are born or made.

GLAAD has reached out to Aquí y Ahora to apologize and commit to doing a segment that provides the balance sorely lacking in the recent segment and that explains the harm done by so-called “reparative therapies.” Univision responded that they have taken careful note of GLAAD’s concerns and will respond next week.

[h/t Towleroad]

The Washington Blade reports that PFOX has been distributing ex-gay propaganda fliers at Albert Einstein High School in Rockville, Maryland.

According to district policy, any organization that can prove that it is a non-profit “community entity” can send materials home with students quarterly when report cards are distributed.

It isn’t mentioned in the article, but there’s a reason they have that policy: this isn’t the first time PFOX has done this, not by a mile. Montgomery County Public Schools and PFOX go back a long and unfortunate way, at least to 2005, when PFOX and Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum won a federal lawsuit against the school board that claimed the school’s new sex-ed curriculum promoted homosexuality. Their victory surprised even them.

CRC President Michelle Turner, who has five children in public schools, has led the effort to stop the curriculum since November, when the county school board voted unanimously to approve it.

“This is beyond our wildest dreams. Who could ever have imagined this?” she said. “The board totally capitulated. We won big-time.”

Capitulated is right, and it emboldened the ex-gay activists big time. Another lawsuit in 2006 led the school to develop the aforementioned policy and allowed PFOX to distribute these fliers. In 2007, PFOX filed an Appeal and Request for Stay to block pilot testing of a new sex-ed curriculum because it didn’t include PFOX’s views on “ex-gays.” The resulting settlement compelled the school to rebuild its curriculum from the beginning, and the group has continued to distribute fliers over and over. Looks like they’ve circled back again, just in time for Valentine’s Day, lest any gay kids get any ideas about kissing their crushes.

TeachTheFacts.org, a MCPS-based group of parents who are appalled by PFOX’s attempts to introduce hatemongering and pseudoscience to their children’s public educations, keeps a blog containing a passionate history of these battles. In one widely-read entry from February 14, 2010, written after yet another flier distribution, the author entreats the school district to grow a pair:

Some schools set up special trash cans on PFOX flyer days, which coincided with report cards, so students could throw their anti-gay materials out immediately.

Let the school principal, the Board of Education, the Superintendent of Schools, and home-room teachers be responsible for what they give the children. Consider the quotes from principals who have said things like “If I had my druthers, [the flier] would not have gone out.” Why is the principal not held responsible for the literature his school is giving to the students entrusted to him? Give the guy his druthers! Take the disclaimer off all the flyers, and let the school district take responsibility for the information it is giving to our students.

Ah, you say, they’re afraid of lawsuits. Yes, there is an inevitable lawsuit if they refuse to distribute the PFOX hate literature. The schools have a little problem with bullying, I wonder where the kids picked that up? Okay, PFOX is going to sue, the school district will have to fight back. If there is a legitimate reason that the school district should have to give anti-gay materials to schoolchildren then PFOX will win and the case will only be wasted money. Is it really possible that distributing hateful literature is a legitimate function of a public school? Okay, back if down a step or two, is it really possible that distributing every group’s opinion is a legitimate function of a public school? Of course not, the school is there for education, it is patently absurd for them to be giving children a message that is the direct opposite of what they are taught in class.

This is a moment when we need leaders. Somebody at the top needs to identify this as something indecent and wrong and put a stop to it. The school district is hiding behind a legal opinion instead of acting like grown-ups and confronting the issue.

Great news! Proposition 8 was again ruled unconstitutional today by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California. This is great news for LGBT people, couples, and families across the country; these discriminatory, malicious, bigoted, mean-spirited, un-American laws are one step closer to being permanently consigned to the dustbin of history. Onward!

Truth Wins Out wants to thank the more than 3,000 people who signed our petition thanking the  Jewish Press for publishing a groundbreaking op-ed by by Chaim Levin, who explained in the newspaper that he had been harmed by an “ex-gay” therapy program that had been recommended to him by the Orthodox Jewish Community.

The reaction to the op-ed by anti-gay activists was ferocious. According to the newspaper: “Following the publication of this op-ed, a number of Jewish Press advertisers were approached and threatened. They were told to stop advertising with the Jewish Press.”

Instead of backing down, the Jewish Press wrote a brave editorial defending Levin’s op-ed and boldly claimed that, “The Jewish Press won’t be silenced.”

Today we closed the petition after achieving our mission of showing our respect and support.  TWO is grateful for those who took the initiative to sign our petition and stand up for equality. Our work would not be effective if it were not for our dedicated friends who work with us to create meaningful and lasting change.

And maybe if I met the right woman…

Patrick Wooden has quickly become one of the weirdest, funniest wingnuts on record, ever since Porno Pete recruited him for a poorly attended protest at the Southern Poverty Law Center. In the space of just a few weeks, he has explained how anal sex is just terrible, but only if you’re gay, how gay men are well-known for putting iPhones in their butts, which is why gay men have to wear buttplugs all the time [sensing a pattern in what Wooden is interested in here?], and also Tyler Perry and Oprah are the devil. Teaching us about these things are all part of Wooden’s Pastoral Duties, and now he’s added another one to the mix!

You see, Patrick Wooden loves Pam Spaulding of Pam’s House Blend so much that he really just wants her to find a nice man to rock her world, for Jesus, of course. No, really. Here he is, talking to Porno Pete about Pam:

Patrick Wooden: Well, first of all, I love Pam, and one of these days I hope to invite Pam Spaulding maybe to lunch, and we can sit down and talk, I have never had the privilege of meeting her. I learned that we were at an event one time together and she did not make herself known [news to me; what event is he talking about?] and of course she knew, if my information is correct, she’s aware of who I am and I did not know her. I love her and I am praying for her, and I wouldn’t dare rail insults for insults or slurs for slurs.

I will say that Christ died for Pam, and Jesus will save her and deliver her from sin and that I have nothing but love for her and look forward to an opportunity to sit down and look her in the eye and to talk to her. Now as for the comment that I am a rent-a-pastor (laughs)…listen, Peter, I’ve been called much worse, and you know, my position is this: I don’t mind being rented for the cause of Christ. I don’t mind being rented for God’s Truth, I don’t mind being used for God’s Truth…as a matter of fact I want to thank her for calling me a rent-a-pastor. And I’ll say to the Lord – you can rent me anytime you want. I don’t know why he would since he owns me, but I will do for whatever cause he would want me to be a part of …here I am Lord, I’m like Isaiah, [blah, blah, blah] as long as I am representing God’s Truth.

Peter, it’s really not about her; we’re just vessels to be used by the Lord. It is the cause…it is the truth of God that we represent that is so important. So if the Pam Spauldings of this world, I wouldn’t get into a shouting match with her, I wouldn’t visit her web site, or her Facebook or whatever and rail insult for insult…

Pam needs Jesus, when Pam meets the Lord that yearning for a member of the same sex will change…she’d probably make a fantastic mother [Um, no], and would enjoy having a husband who was born male – no Chaz Bono business – born male – and meet her man, and rock her world, in the name of the Lord.”

You see, Pam Spaulding is great, says Patrick Wooden! If only she would discover the wonders of the wang in the name of the Lord…

This is what our opposition has been reduced to, y’all.

Truth Wins Out is thrilled to announce that we’re collaborating with Pride Vermont to bring the NOH8 Campaign to our state for the first time this September. The NOH8 photoshoot will be held in conjunction with Pride Vermont at Burlington’s Battery Park on September 22, 2012 from 1-4 p.m.

The NOH8 Campaign is a photographic silent protest created by Hollywood-based celebrity photographer Adam Bouska and his partner Jeff Parshley in response to the passage of Proposition 8. Photos feature subjects with duct tape over their mouths, symbolizing their voices being silenced by Prop 8 and similar legislation around the world, with “NOH8” painted on one cheek in protest.

Over 20,000 people have been photographed for the NOH8 Campaign, including celebrities like Kathy Griffin, Lisa Ling, Ben Patrick Johnson, Cindy and Meghan McCain, Miley Cyrus, Leslie Jordan, the Kardashian sisters, Jane Lynch, Lt. Dan Choi, Margaret Cho, and Lance Bass. Thousands of other everyday people (including yours truly and his husband) have been photographed at NOH8 open photoshoots across the country.

Head on over to the NOH8 website for more information about the photoshoot on September 22. Mark your calendars and come to Pride Vermont, visit with Truth Wins Out (we’ll be there!), and make a statement by getting photographed for this great campaign.

Michael Knaapen & John Becker posing for the NOH8 Campaign in Chicago, October 2010