A Republican lawmaker who tried to pass tougher public lewdness laws was convicted Friday of agreeing to pay for gay sex with an undercover officer in a men’s park restroom. State Rep. Bob Allen faces up to 60 days in county jail and a $500 fine for soliciting prostitution, a second-degree misdemeanor. The Merritt Island Republican was accused of peering over a stall at Titusville officer Danny Kavanaugh, then agreeing to pay $20 to perform oral sex on the policeman.

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Is it not obvious that those who are closeted gay people are leading the anti-gay movement? What they are doing is working out private issues on the public stage. If they can convince themselves that homosexuality is awful, they might be less tempted. If they can pass draconian laws to punish gay people, maybe they will be too afraid to come out.

Many of these hypocrites claim to be people of faith. But, religion and family values is just an unhealthy form of drag – an elaborate costume to cover-up their all-consuming battle against their nature.

Note to the family values hypocrites who regularly read this blog (and there are many of you):  We are all on to your game. You fool no one and you would be much happier and more fulfilled if you were true to yourself and lived honestly and openly with dignity and respect.

Please come out, before you become Bob Allen.

One more point: Why are Florida law enforcement divisions wasting taxpayer money entrapping and harassing people in parks? Having lived most of my life in Florida, I can assure you there are still real criminals on the loose. There is no reason why the police are diverting officers for such trivial nonsense.

I vividly remember the first time I was introduced to the phrase “Family Values.” It was the early 1990’s and I was driving in my car. I looked out of the window and saw the strange verbiage promoting a new subdivision on a towering billboard above the highway.

The sign didn’t perturb me, but I was puzzled by the slogan. Having grown up in a series of subdivisions, it went without saying that the existing cul-de-sacs were always brimming with families.

So, what made this development so different? Did they forbid singles from living behind the gates? What if a divorce occurred, did the broken family have to move? Did offspring have to eventually leave if they had not married by a certain age? Were gay people forbidden from living there?

What I found most bewildering was the idea of promoting family, as if it were a prefab product that could be marketed, packaged and came with 2 ½ bathrooms. That seemed as forced and unnatural as the wax fruit placed on the coffee tables of model homes in such developments.

At that time, my parents had been together for more than 20 years (They celebrate their 40 year anniversary in August). Their lifetime together was just an organic experience that didn’t need to be trumpeted. They never had to say, “look at us, aren’t we just the healthiest, happiest family you’ve ever seen? Check out our wonderful morals and values. Aren’t we special? And, by the way, vote for a specific political party to keep us together.”

Aside from politicians kissing babies and posing with their brood, I always imagined the value of family to be a private affair. It was an intimate bond between two people and their children. The ostentatious commercial worship of this unit seemed jarring and exploitative. Indeed, it seemed anathema to actual healthy families. If one’s family were so wonderful, after all, why would it need a special subdivision?

Shortly after I saw this billboard, President George Bush and his vacuous Vice President, Dan Quayle, brought the “family values” mantra into the political arena. Religious scolds, who worked to transform marriage from a private institution to a very public one, championed this moral marketing campaign. The GOP soon recast itself as the great defender of family and assiduously catered to this crowd, who eventually took over the party.

In reality, of course, strong families don’t need to be defended. If a husband and wife are busy cuddling, they don’t need candidate crusaders. If parents are taking their children to soccer practice, they don’t need James Dobson socking imagined enemies. (Read More)

In mid-November, the Colorado Springs-based media empire and political organization laid off 202 of its employees — about 20 percent of its workforce. The group’s explanation for the mass layoffs is the nation’s economic crisis. However, Focus’ money woes may stem, in part, from the more than half a million dollars it spent this fall to help defeat Proposition 8, the recently passed legislation that took civil-marriage rights away from GLBT Californians.

Today, we get new information: While Focus employees were getting the workplace equivalent to lumps of coal, Focus was busy spending more money: The Colorado Independent reports that the organization spent $35,310 to produce radio ads promoting Georgia Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss’ successful runoff re-election campaign this week. The commercials — which had to have been purchased after the Nov. 4 election that made the runoff vote necessary — reportedly were in production around the same time Focus workers were getting the bad news.

What does this move say about Focus on the Family’s priorities? In this season of love and goodwill, when much of the world’s focus will be on the Holy Family, the organization has opted to throw its money into a political move to destroy families. At the same time, Focus tells more than 200 of its workers and their families that for them, there is no more room at the inn.

Bah humbug, indeed. What would Jesus say?

Focus on the Family blames committed gay couples for a lack of commitment among gender-biased heterosexual Christian couples.

On Oct. 9, Focus cited one supposed victim of marriage for gay couples: An antigay California couple whose marriage license was rejected after they marred it by crossing out inclusive language and replacing it with sexist language.

Focus also complained that an antigay New Jersey retreat, the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, lost its special tax breaks after it violated its legal commitment to make a boardwalk pavilion equally available to all taxpayers in exchange for that tax exemption.

Focus further complained that two federal courts “rudely” foiled two Massachusetts antigay couples in their attempt to force overworked public-school teachers to warn them prior to any lessons that the parents deemed to be politically incorrect.

Also on Oct. 9, Focus on the Family indirectly protested California law which requires primary-school children to be educated about marriage. Again, it seems, Focus only wants kids to be educated about marriages that it deems to be politically correct — in other words, evangelical, heterosexual, and Republican.