Here at Truth Wins Out, the epidemic of LGBT teen suicides in Minnesota’s Anoka-Hennepin school district has been on our radar for a long time.

Nonetheless, you need to head over to Rolling Stone and read this article about what LGBT kids go through in Michele Bachmann’s district every day, largely because local evangelicals have waged an all-out war on the area’s LGBT population. This blatant bigotry only serves to intensify the bullying that’s par for the course for LGBT teenagers at schools across the country. In Anoka, homosexuality is forbidden from even being discussed. Teachers and administrators do not intervene when LGBT students are harassed by their peers because they fear being fired for violating a district policy requiring them to stay “neutral” on, and banning positive references to, LGBT people and issues. And the culture of shame and fear that “Christian” fundamentalists (many of them from the same conservative church that Bachmann attended until just last year) have created around lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender identities  is so pervasive that LGBT teens feel scared and unsafe within the walls of their schools.

And they’re killing themselves because of it. So many, in fact, that the state of Minnesota declared the Anoka-Hennepin school district a “suicide contagion area.” After one of the suicides — that of Sam Johnson in 2009 — students in the district’s GSAs participated in the Day of Silence. In this GLSEN-sponsored event, participants spent the day in silence to illustrate the silencing effect of the anti-LGBT bullying that led to the loss of several of their peers.  The response? Local evangelical churches organized a so-called “Day of Truth” event; their kids showed up at school wearing shirts telling their peers they could pray away the gay and engaged in anti-gay proselytizing in the hallways. (At that time the “Day of Truth” events were sponsored by Exodus International; it’s now been shifted to Focus on the Family and re-branded as a so-called “Day of Dialogue” in a transparent attempt to soft-pedal anti-gay bigotry.)

The way local evangelical “Christians” have doubled down on– not merely shown coldhearted indifference to, but doubled down on — the persecution of LGBT people, even in the wake of so many suicides, is pure evil.

Read, too, about Tammy Aaberg. Her son Justin was an Anoka High School student who committed suicide in 2010 due to anti-LGBT bullying, and his death turned her into an activist. Readers who know me know I have a soft spot in my heart for equality moms (including, I’m proud to say, my own). Hell hath no fury like a mom fighting for her LGBT child. But I have nothing short of awe for moms like Tammy Aaberg and Judy Shepard who fight for a child whom they’ve lost. I don’t know how they do it, but I admire their strength.

This is why the fight for our equality is so important. Slowly but surely, we’re building a world where no more Judy Shepards have to bury a child murdered for being gay, where no more Tammy Aabergs have to discover their baby boy dead in his bedroom because he couldn’t take another day of being bullied for his LGBT identity.

Please, read and share this article and resolve to keep fighting.

In 2007, 18-year-old J.T. Chestnut’s father forced the openly gay young man to join the army in order to “straighten him out.” In the army, Chestnut endured steady harassment for being gay, and when he finally couldn’t take it anymore, he fled to California. In West Hollywood, he found a vibrant LGBT community, made many wonderful friends, and began boldly speaking out for LGBT rights.

Unfortunately, though, Chestnut’s decision to flee from his abusers has come back to haunt him. He was arrested on Halloween in West Hollywood while on his way to a friend’s house, and when his having gone AWOL was discovered, he was ordered to return to Fort Sill, Oklahoma to face a court martial. As of this morning Chestnut remains in military jail, alone and scared, waiting to be brought up on charges. He released this statement:

“I am so grateful for the support that I am receiving. I decided to go through this process because I know going AWOL wasn’t the best decision, but if I didn’t receive the bullying and harassment for being gay, I wouldn’t have done it. I was 18, scared, and just came out of the closet. I respect the men and women who serve our country.

Thank you to my sister and every single person who has been a constant support and helping me through this every minute. I can’t wait to see all my friends, sing Whitney Houston, and have a glass of Kendall Jackson Chardonnay.”

New Hampshire activist Kevin James has started a Change.org petition calling on the U.S. Army to free J.T. instead of prosecuting a victim of bullying and harassment. Please head over to Change.org and sign it.

h/t: Diablito

The current prime objectives of the U.S. armed services are to defend United States territory and fight terrorists.

Nowhere on the Pentagon’s list of public objectives can one find a commission to spend taxpayer money to sexually exploit female servicemembers, bully “fags,” lampoon transgender civilians, or engage in sexually suggestive behavior.

Yet those are the behaviors of the executive officer of the U.S.S. Enterprise, in a series of slick and professionally produced “entertainment” videos that this leader commissioned in 2006 and 2007 while he was leading sailors in support of U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to the Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, executive officer Owen Honors scripted scenes in which his subordinates “parade in drag, use anti-gay slurs, and simulate masturbation and a rectal exam. Another scene implies that an officer is having sex in his stateroom with a donkey.” Yet another scene depicts female servicemembers in a shower and suggestively hinting at a same-sex liaison. After elaborate and time-consuming editing by Honors and the ship’s public-affairs office, the videos were shown shipwide to 6,000 sailors and Marines with the undeniable knowledge of then-captain Larry Rice.

When sailors complained about the violent and pornographic themes of the videos, they were initially ignored by Navy superiors; Honors continued to produce the videos. Honors was later promoted to commander of the ship, and Rice was promoted to the rank of rear admiral in Norfolk.

When the videos were exposed this weekend by the Virginian-Pilot this weekend, the Navy affirmed the videos:

“The videos created onboard USS Enterprise in 2006-2007 were not created with the intent to offend anyone,” the statement said. “The videos were intended to be humorous skits focusing the crew’s attention on specific issues such as port visits, traffic safety, water conservation, ship cleanliness, etc.”

The Navy contended that production of the videos ended in early 2007 when superiors belatedly intervened — but the Virginian-Pilot notes that “[a]t least one video that includes anti-gay remarks and officers pretending to masturbate was made after July of that year, according to Honors’ comments in it.”

When news of the videos reached CNN, however, the Navy’s story suddenly changed:

The Navy issued a statement Saturday, saying in part “production of videos, like the ones produced four to five years ago on USS Enterprise and now being written about in the Virginian-Pilot, were not acceptable then and are still not acceptable in today’s Navy. The Navy does not endorse or condone these kinds of actions.”

The statement also said, “U.S. Fleet Forces Command has initiated an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the production of these videos; however, it would be inappropriate to comment any further on the specifics of the investigation.”

The videos were not an entertaining diversion from the stress of combat; they were an affront against subordinates. They contributed to a climate of sexual harassment — and such a climate within an organization all too often fosters disrespect and harassment toward the organization’s clients. In this case, the “clients” are civilians here and abroad who count upon the United States for protection.

The Virginian-Pilot notes that crew felt threatened by the videos — and that the XO responded to personnel complaints by accusing his would-be victims of cowardice:

A female sailor who was assigned to the Enterprise at the time said she and a number of other women on board were offended by the videos. She said some crew members complained about them, and in fact, Honors acknowledged it on camera. In one movie, he says, “Over the years I’ve gotten several complaints about inappropriate materials in these videos, never to me personally but, gutlessly, through other channels.”

Since news of the shipboard softcore porn-and-harassment operation broke, some have leapt to Honors’ defense in comments on the web sites of the Virginian-Pilot, CNN, and MSNBC. They contend that Honors is a hero upholding free speech and male troop morale in an era of political correctness.

In this view, sexual harassment in the armed services may be considered a prerogative, and soft-core video produced at some cost to taxpayers in wartime qualifies as patriotic. It would seem that some of America’s military leaders and patriots have allowed male lust and political vanity to distract them from the basics of human decency, human rights, military law, discipline, honor, focus upon wartime objectives, and responsibility to taxpayers.

Chris Armstrong talks with Anderson Cooper about being stalked and bullied online by Michigan’s deranged assistant attorney general Andrew Shirvell and his lawless boss, attorney general Mike Cox.

This is what Focus on the Family is trying to preserve:

Last year, 85 percent of gay and transgender students in middle and high school experienced harassment at school, according to a survey released Tuesday morning by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).

GLSEN surveyed 7,621 LGBT students, including some in Utah.

Nearly a third of those surveyed reported they had skipped class at least once because they felt unsafe at school.

[...]

“It could not be clearer that there is an urgent need for action to create safe and affirming schools for LGBT students,” GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard said in a statement. “As our nation seems to finally be taking bullying more seriously, it is crucial that LGBT students are no longer left out of efforts to address this public health crisis.”

Then again, Focus on the Family doesn’t care about kids in the slightest. They care about whether or not they are able to brainwash kids into buying into their discredited, disproven worldview, so that a new generation of bigots will take their place. There’s a difference.

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.

The fortieth anniversary of Stonewall, the 1969 bar riot that kicked off the modern gay rights movement, was supposed to be a time of reflection. Judging from the gushing media coverage and flowery political speeches, it momentarily seemed that the struggle for equality had ended in victory. Out with marches and in with museums, where gay and straight people could walk the marble corridors and gasp in astonishment, “The police actually used to raid gay bars?”

When the Fort Worth police stormed the gay Rainbow Lounge at 1AM on Sunday, June 28, the patrons could be forgiven for thinking it was a quaint cabaret show in memory of Stonewall — very much like the Civil War reenactments so popular in the south. But, no, this was the real deal — a gang of gun-wielding thugs using their badges to badger helpless patrons who committed the crime of drinking beer while gay.

It was the third such raid of the night by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and Fort Worth police. They were allegedly harassing bar customers to crack down on public intoxication, which is as ridiculous as raiding the mall for public displays of shopping. While they claim they were carrying out their duty, it sure seems to me like a band of good ole boys with too much time on their hands. Instead of fighting real crime, becoming the criminals must have provided a greater adrenaline rush.

By the time these taxpayer supported public servants reached the gay bar, they unleashed a viciousness and violence not seen at the other establishments. According to the Dallas Voice, seven bar patrons were arrested on charges of public intoxication. One customer, Chad Gibson, suffered brain injuries during the raid and is still hospitalized, reportedly suffering from bleeding on his brain, which may require surgery.

The armed hooligans tried to excuse their thuggish behavior by reviving the stereotype of gay men as sexual predators. Incredibly, they claimed that as they stormed the bar, patrons made sexual advances.

Yeah, right.

They actually want people to believe that their magnetic, sexual appeal triggered the insatiable sexual appetites of the drunken gays, who thought they were being rushed by the Village People. That’ odd, because the patrons describe the invasion as more terrifying than titillating. (Read More)

It’s been a heady couple of weeks for gay activists — and it keeps getting better. There were twin marriage victories in the unlikely states of Vermont and Iowa — doubling the number of places where gay people can get hitched. If that wasn’t enough, the New York Times reports that New York Gov. David Paterson will unveil plans this week to introduce marriage equality legislation.

On New York City’s Upper West Side, The Jewish Alliance for Change presented a benefit concert on Monday evening for marriage equality that featured a stunning array of stars. I spoke at the event and followed Linda Lavin — who played the lead in the television show “Alice.” It was exhilarating to be among the Broadway glitz and glamour. Most important, the event encapsulated what the movement has worked decades to achieve: broad mainstream support and cultural acceptance.

Unfortunately, while our movement bathed in the well-deserved spotlight, not everyone felt its warm glow. There are still gay people — particularly of school age — who feel the cool sting of homophobia. They are teased, harassed, humiliated and beaten on a daily basis. They enter the schoolyard in sheer terror — as if it were a prison yard ruled by fearsome gangs. (Read More)

CitizenLink, Focus on the Family’s political-action newsletter, ominously declared yesterday that “‘No Name-Calling Week’ Has a Hidden Agenda.”

Starting today, students throughout the nation are being encouraged to participate in “No-Name Calling Week.” But what may seem like a good idea is nothing more than a plug for the goals of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).

According to Focus, groups that prevent verbal harassment and defamation have an “adult agenda” that has no legitimate place in grades 5 through 9. In particular, Focus is angry that students are challenged to confront the inhumanity and dishonesty of being forced into a “closet” about one’s sexual orientation.

Focus claims, “All students should enjoy a safe environment,” but Focus opposes any lessons that would actually help youths understand why their name-calling is rooted in falsehoods and why sexual dishonesty and denial are unhealthy.

Focus opposes sexual honesty and the refutation of stereotypes, because sexual dishonesty is the central premise of ex-gay activism — and because stereotypes form the unfortunate foundation of the organization’s outreach to antigay parents, teachers, and pastors.

Police continue to investigate multiple death threats against Montgomery County, Maryland, council member Duchy Trachtenberg.

Trachtenberg has been threatened because of her support of a bill opposing discrimination against transgender county residents. Letters to her have allegedly varied in tone, from outright threats to profane language to haughty messages parroting ex-gay and antigay memes unrelated to transgender issues.

One of those letter-writers is Sharon Kass of Silver Spring, Md., an increasingly prolific enemy of civility in public discourse about gay and transgender equality. (Read More)