I just do not know what to do with this, but PZ Myers posted it, and that means I have to pass it on to you. It’s the website of a guy named “Herb Grossman,” dedicated to exposing the “evil” of acknowledging the fact (he calls it a “belief”) of evolution:

Hello, My name is Herb Grossman. Let me give you a preliminary idea of why I am so against evolution.

I’ve spent a lifetime solving problems for a living, and you don’t solve problems unless you use good logic and good data. The theory of evolution became my concern several years ago, and when I looked at some of its basics, its explanations just did not look right. I decided to make a serious study of this so-called “science” and became utterly amazed that evolutionists can use their childish thinking, make their claims, and still keep a straight face–how can adult human beings think that way? To be more precise–How can people use bad logic, ignore good data, and still have the nerve to claim to be scientists?

Yeah, so you can tell this is going to be totally sensible and chock full of factual citations.

Mr. or Miss Teenager of America, please read my articles closely. Your life will be much improved if you reject evolution and its way of thinking.

Ho-kay! He addresses most of his website to “Mr. or Miss Teenager of America,” so you can tell he’s got some weird fixations.

Let’s just get to the part about gayness, shall we? (Read More)

Haha, not their sexuality, silly.

As we well know, sexuality is a matter of science and not faith, and until one of the for-profit ex-gay corporations produces undoctored penile plethysmograph results showing gay men becoming aroused no longer by men, but by women, we’ll just stick with the scientific consensus, okay?

But people can and do turn away from their religion-based bigotry. John Aravosis highlighted this blog post today:

“If you become a homosexual, I’ll kill you. If I become a homosexual, you’ll kill me.”

I had forgotten about those terrible words until a friend reminded me of it. We made that pact together in high school, when we were young evangelicals with a “zeal for Christ.” We were bible-toting, Jesus-shirt wearing, tract-giving, church-obsessed dumbasses. Like all dumbasses, we believed what we were told without skepticism. And, as extremists, we would go great lengths to win the approval of God and men.

Our friendly Baptist mega-church taught that homosexuality was an abominable sin. People were not born gay ‚Äî it was a lifestyle choice that was a result of their rebellion and hatred of God. It was “disgusting” and “unnatural.”

(…)

“God doesn’t hate the sinner,” we would say, “He only hates the sin.” But the distinction didn’t really matter, and God would send them to hell unless they repented of their evil homosexual ways.

We swallowed this whole. We never even thought to question it. The Bible said it, our leaders taught it, our parents believed it, and the congregation followed it.

My hatred of homosexuality finally subsided when I began questioning the Bible ‚Äî the ultimate source of my hatred. Without the Bible, there was no reason to hate homosexuality. It was a natural desire, and though I didn’t have that desire myself, I wouldn’t want to be persecuted if I did. It didn’t hurt anyone and in fact made people happy. It was not rational to oppose it.

Etc. Read it all. The piece struck me because I hear echoes of my former self in there. I was a young Evangelical with a “zeal for Christ.” I had a Bible full of underlined/highlighted verses, in which I thought I was analyzing and learning important things. I believed what the church and approved Christian writers told me without skepticism. And I was an extremist.

The difference is that, while the Evangelical fundamentalist lifestyle was indeed inflicted upon me (they prey upon the young, you see), I was actually a gay kid. So not only was I hearing and regurgitating the messages, but they were actually messages about me. If you weren’t raised in a Shi’a Presbyterian surrounding, you might not get this, but can you imagine the internal rending that occurs in that situation?

And indeed, if I may go all atheist on you for a second*, I’m actually worried about what my life would have been like if I hadn’t been gay. If I hadn’t had my inner gayness as an impetus to take a step back and actually reconsider my beliefs with an open, uncluttered mind, sans brainwashing, sans “this is the way it’s always been,” would something else have come along to cause me to reconsider? Bear in mind, I’m actually not making an argument for all to deconvert from Christianity. That’s my own path and it’s the right path for me. But all should deconvert from narrow minded, education-free Fundamentalism. As the writer of the above piece states, there is no rational, reality-based reason to hate gay people, or to “disapprove of homosexuality,” in Fundamentalist Newspeak. It only makes sense (and only to like-minded people) when you hide your bigotry in the pages of a religious text. Simply put, the reality of gay people doesn’t line up with the fantasy world painted by Christian fundamentalism.

Christian extremists like to pretend their anti-gay animus is shared by people of all faiths and no faith at all, but that’s mostly crap. Sure, you might find an atheist here and there who has an irrational hatred for large subsets of people, but that’s not the norm. Extreme hatred tends to spring from closed-off worlds, and fundamentalist religion is one of the darkest, most sheltered, most cut-off-from-reality worlds imaginable. A simple attachment to the real world pretty much forecloses the development of irrational hatred.

It’s a bit amazing to look back across the years and realize that I was not only “one of them,” but that I was absolutely sincere! I didn’t know any better. Current Fundamentalists don’t either.

But yes, they can change. And more and more do every single year. And unlike the mythical millions of “ex-gays,” you can meet atheists and agnostics and liberal, open-minded religious believers any day of the week, in any city, in any country.

*As if religious people ask permission…

When pop singer and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Ricky Martin disclosed Monday that he is a “fortunate homosexual man,” responses ranged from sincere congratulations to “what took so long?” Christian Right organizations have been slow to respond; no doubt they will in the coming days.

Martin, 38, has been a celebrity since his days in Menudo in the 1980s, and since 1991 as a solo artist. That is a long time to endure the dilemma that confronts most LGBT public figures: Shall I be sexually honest — or concede to the twin pressures of a lucrative opposite-gender fanbase that wants to dream of romance with me, and a socially conservative marketplace that rewards secrecy or, worse, faux heterosexuality.

There are valid reasons (besides prosperity) for celebrities to preserve their private lives.

Sanity, for one — it’s difficult to carry out a healthy social and romantic life when it’s conducted under the glare of floodlights and the roaming eyes of TMZ, the National Enquirer, and countless gay gossips.

Avoidance of typecasting is another. Someone whose private life is unknown finds it much easier to secure and succeed with a wide range of different themes and audience demographics, whereas Ellen Degeneres and Elton John — successful as they are — have few options.

Some may argue that, for political reasons, celebrities who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender should come out for the benefit of the “community.” I, for one, think celebrities should take their time and come out on their own terms — not simply because activists like us might want them to.

A child left out in the cold, no older than twelve years, shivering, crying and lonely; no love to fill the hole that permeates their shattered heart. Why is this poor child left out in the cold? Why won’t a shelter take him in and care for him? Where are his parents? Who is at fault?

This child was abandoned to the frigid wasteland simply for admitting that they can only love a member of the same sex. Simply for being honest to those they thought they could trust… their parents. Parents, who have discarded their children simply because of the ideals that society has placed upon LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) persons, ideals such as hatred, bigotry, and dissent towards them. These are ideals that do not hold true with the facts, but simply are nothing more than misconceptions and misunderstandings of these innocent and loving individuals.

The tragic scenario above is a gruesome reality that plagues our country. These innocent children are homeless for no other reason except for the fact that they were born different. A difference so undeniably hated, so venomously despised that a further analysis seems only to provoke conviction and dispute amongst individuals, when, in actuality, it is merely addressing the simple facts. This epidemic not only curtails homeless LGBT youth who make up nearly 40 percent of all homeless youth (PDF document), but also exemplifies how LGBT people are discarded and hated by society. By just addressing the situation we can witness not only the depravity that haunts LGBT people, but also see their humanity through the hardships and despotism they face from a country and its people that refuse to allow them to live as who they are born as; free, equal, and accepted. (Read More)

As she so often does, Amanda Marcotte has noticed something in the Christian conservative worldview that I’ve never seen pointed out before. The tabloids are apparently having a minor freak-out over the gender presentation of one of Angelina Jolie’s children, you see, and in order to present an “expert voice on parenting,” Life & Style Magazine went to Focus on the Family’s Glenn Stanton, of all people. Britney Spears was apparently otherwise tied up and didn’t have time to comment, I guess? Anyway, reacting to the fact that little Shiloh is going through some sort of tomboy phase, Stanton had this to say:

Says FotF’ Glenn Stanton, “Little girls have never been women before. They need help, they need guidance of what that looks like.”

Uh huh. I can’t top the reaction from Andi Zeisler at Bitch Magazine, so I’ll just quote that for you:

Oh, how right you are, Mr. Stanton! Let’ make sure this poor misguided tot gets to spend some time with a traditionally feminine woman‚Äîsay, one with long silky hair, pillowy lips, bountiful curves, perhaps even one considered the hottest sex bomb Hollywood’ ever seen! But where oh where are we going to find a woman like that for Shiloh to emulate?

Heh.

So anyway, off ran Amanda Marcotte’s brain, and she noticed that there is a huge, glaring contradiction in the teachings of Focus on the Family and similar groups on gender, gender presentation, and sexuality. I’m going to excerpt a good bit, and then you should read the whole thing:

[W]hat’ really interesting to me is that social conservatives want to have it both ways—they argue both that gender is innate and unchangeable, and that it’ learned. When feminists criticize domestic sexism, conservatives are all about how gender roles are natural and fixed—and in complete opposition to each other. That men are naturally boorish pigs and women are naturally nurturing, so women who resent being told to nurture people who can’t even be expected to show gratitude are bucking nature and need to learn to live with our debased roles. But then they turn around and say things like Stanton did, which is basically to admit that femininity (they also believe this about masculinity) is a learned behavior, and not only that, but it’ a long, hard process learning your gender. You’ll hear from conservatives that boys are naturally drawn to trains and girls to dolls, and then they’ll flip around and tell each other that it’ extremely important to steer your children towards the “right” gender roles.

Their homophobia is clashing with their sexism, and showing how intellectually bankrupt both positions are. Social conservatives portray homosexuality as a “choice”—which makes sense. They want gays to get in the closet, and they’re just portraying that as authentic heterosexuality. But in order to argue that it’ a choice, you have to position homosexuality as a serious temptation and gays as simply very weak people who give in. If you buy into that argument, then you start to see homosexuality as a temptation that preys on all people, and your job as a parent becomes about shoring your child up to resist that temptation. Focus on the Family has long taught its followers that homosexuality can be warded off with strict teaching of gender roles. In other words, they’ve been forced to make explicit what they’ve always pretended wasn’t true, which is that gender roles are learned and performed. The irony is that the one avenue where they’ll admit gender roles are learned is the one avenue where they’re not actually going to have as much influence as they think. Forcing a little girl who wants to be a tomboy into dresses is not going to make her not be a lesbian, and also that many lesbians prefer to present a feminine manner to the world. And a lot of little girls allowed to be tomboys grow up straight.

What groups like Focus are unable/unwilling to grasp is that concepts of gender and sexuality are actually unique for each of our lives, and they can’t handle that reality. Even if one were to grant that their “god” created us (I do not, obviously), they can’t stand the fact that the humanity they think he created simply doesn’t fit into artificially proscribed gender roles. I was talking to someone the other day, whose high-school aged son recently came out, and the father was apparently doing some of that all-too-typical “If I had only introduced him to more guy stuff, this wouldn’t have happened” thing, and I said, “Actually, even if he had, and the kid turned out to be the most talented football player in the state, he would simply be a gay teen who happens to be the most talented football player in the state!”

It’s ludicrous. The teachings of James Dobson and pals are so stupid, so completely unaccredited by any real parenting experts, that it’s obnoxious to have to spend time refuting them, but the sad fact is that lots of normal garden-variety Evangelicals read his titles for advice. In his book Bringing Up Boys, Dobson actually spends a significant amount of time talking about “preventing homosexuality” by enforcing strict gender roles. It’s laughable to us, because we know that homosexuality isn’t a disease to be prevented. It’s a simple fact that homosexuality exists, and it bears no relation to a person’s gender presentation, or how well they fit into societally proscribed gender roles. The only thing Dobson can really teach parents to do is to make their gay kids hate themselves so much that they’re driven to depression, general unhappiness, inauthentic living, and in some cases, suicide. (I’m never quite sure whether that’s not Dobson’s actual goal in the first place, the insipid dog-abusing monster.)

So yeah, Focus, etc., are wrong on all counts. In the world of actual human beings, most of us, if we’re honest, are sort of a composite of the characteristics ascribed traditionally to “male” and “female.” Likewise, there are many, many kids who go through experimental phases where they like to dress up like the opposite gender, and most of these kids just sort of outgrow it. Others, as they mature, find themselves to be transgender. Still others find themselves somewhere in between the two! And others, and others, and others… It’s the same with sexuality. All you have to do to realize this is to spend five minutes in a large gay or lesbian bar and do some people-watching. Sure, there are those who conform to stereotype. Others don’t. Still others find themselves somewhere in between. The point is that the reality of gender and sexuality is complex, and those like Glenn Stanton will always be wrong as long as they insist on interpreting the world though a disproven, black-white, good-evil, male-female dichotomy that doesn’t exist in the real world.

Anyway, three cheers to Amanda for picking up on yet another example of extreme cognitive dissonance in the Christian conservative worldview. There are so many, it’s hard to keep track sometimes.

The complete text of the 2009 Uganda antigay genocide legislation.

(Read More)

In March, American anti-gay activists traveled to Uganda for a conference that pledged to “wipe out” homosexuality. Seven months later, a draconian bill has been introduced that pledges to make good on this threat. The “Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009″ is so severe that it is designed to shred the spirit and suffocate the soul of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Ugandans. If it passes, Uganda will become a predator state that actively hunts down GLBT people to destroy them.

Uganda already punished gay intimacy with life in prison. But, apparently that was not harsh enough, with this bill penalizing anyone who “attempts to commit the offence” with up to seven years in jail. Additionally, a person charged will be forced to undergo an invasive medical examination to determine their HIV status. If the detainees are found to be HIV+, they may be executed.

This barbaric legislation stifles free speech by threatening anyone who is accused of “promoting” homosexuality with five to seven year prison sentences. Snitching on gay friends and family members is strongly encouraged because “failure to disclose the “offence’ within 24 hours of knowledge makes somebody liable to a fine or imprisonment of up to three years.”

Sadly, this witch-hunt has the blood stained fingerprints of leading American evangelicals. The Fellowship, (aka The Family) one of America’ most powerful and secretive fundamentalist organization’, converted Uganda’ President Yoweri Museveni (pictured top) to its anti-gay brand of Christianity, which is the “intellectual” impetus behind the anti-gay crackdown. The clandestine organization’ leader, Doug Coe, calls Museveni The Fellowship’ “key man” in Africa. Jeff Sharlet, author of “The Family”, writes of the African strongman’ conversion:

“So,” Doug Coe told us, “my friend said to the president, “why don’t you come and pray with me in America? I have a good group of friends‚Äîsenators, congressmen‚Äîwho I like to pray with, and they’d like to pray with you.’ And that president came to the Cedars (a religious retreat), and he met Jesus. And his name is Yoweri Museveni…And he is a good friend of the Family.”

(Read More)

In articles dated June 8 and June 11, the Family Research Council affirmed laws in foreign countries that imprison or execute gay people.

FRC is opposed to H.R. 2410, legislation that purportedly empowers the U.S. State Department to discourage foreign governments from enforcing laws that imprison or execute same-sex-attracted persons. The legislation also is said to support programs that affirm women’s right to contraception and disease prevention.

FRC unconditionally defends laws that punish homosexuality, no matter how harshly. And FRC offers just one solution for people around the world who face imprisonment for sexual honesty: Ex-gay re-education.

FRC says that if homosexual persons can change and become heterosexual, then they should be denied any rights until they do change. FRC then promotes a new 121-page document released by the antigay reparative-therapy lobby NARTH, which claims that cherry-picked factoids from 125 research studies support the myth that homosexuality is caused by bad parenting and abuse, and that anyone can change their orientation.

NARTH continues to refuse to submit its reinterpretations of mainstream research to professional peer review — and NARTH has been condemned by mainstream researchers for distorting their data and their informed conclusions.

In a new video, Peterson Toscano recalls his own journey, and that of friends, through Exodus International’s flagship ex-gay live-in program, Tennessee-based Love In Action.

In his introduction to the video, Toscano writes:

Some people come to ex-gay programs sexually naive. They never had sex in their lives and have little idea where they would even procure gay sex. That is until they walk into an ex-gay program where day after day they hear people talk about gay sex–what’ it like, where to get it, how good it felt during the act, how icky one might feel afterward (particularly if that one gets in trouble for it.)

I know of at least two guys from my Love in Action days who came into the program virgins and successfully graduated many months later armed with so much information about cruising spots and anonymous sex protocol that once they left off being ex-gay, they plunged into a gay sex fest that lasted months if not years.

They learned their lessons well. Sadly those lessons insisted that gay men were driven by dysfunctional, sinful, compulsive desires and lesbians had a penchant for unhealthy emotionally enmeshed relationships. It takes years to detox from that misinformation.

Contrary to their own advertising, ex-gay live-in programs do not free people from homosexuality — or sexuality. Often, unfortunately, these programs merely poison sexuality and interrelationship. They condition people to experience sex and relationship in ways that may be dangerously unhealthy.

In a new documentary set to air on HBO next month, a disgraced evangelical pastor comes clean. “The Trials of Ted Haggard,” directed by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s daughter Alexandra, was filmed with Haggard’s cooperation — and how.

You may recall that two years ago, Haggard stepped down from his post as president of the National Association of Evangelicals and was sacked as senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs after a former male prostitute alleged that the cleric paid him for sex and used illicit substances.

I have yet to see the documentary, but published reports say that Haggard speaks onscreen, speaks about his new life. The father of five remains in his marriage for the same of his children and apparently has been living with shame. While he doesn’t speak of his sexual improprieties in detail, he does admit to “sexual immorality” and says, “I really did sin.” Haggard tells of his longtime struggle with his same-sex desires, insisting that he never claimed to be heterosexual.

“The reason I kept my personal struggle a secret is because I feared that my friends would reject me, abandon me and kick me out, and the church would exile and excommunicate me. And that happened and more,” he says in the film.

He also reveals that while he purchased methamphetamine, he never used it.

Haggard’s wife Gayle speaks in the documentary as well, and offers what perhaps is the reason behind the couple’s participation in the production: “I know to restore the honor to our children is to help restore honor to their father.”

That may be a long, hard road. Right-wing Christian leadership isn’t treating Haggard with honor, and most GLBT people probably will say that a man who worked so hard against honorable treatment for us is not worthy of anything resembling honor. Many believe he’s getting his just deserts.

After the scandal broke, the Haggard family fled Colorado for Arizona, where the former preacher confesses thta he is having a tough time making ends meet as an insurance salesperson. “At this stage in my life, I am a loser,” Haggard says.

I suspect Haggard is a loser only if he does not come to grips with his reality and learn to embrace it. If he can emerge from this crisis a better human being, then he will deserve to be honored. He doesn’t have to abandon his family to do it: Many gay and bisexual people end up in marriages with heterosexual partners. (Exhibit A: Me.) Sometimes those marriages work; often they do not. But the real losers are the misguided ones who work to diminish others. The Religious Wrong is filled hypocrites who divide people and spead a message that does not include anything Jesus would champion — things like forgiveness, compassion, and acceptance without judgment.

Haggard could choose to re-up as a fundamentalist Christian soldier — or he could take another road, one that leads to justice for all of God’s children and could help him right the wrongs he committed. That second path leads to honor. At this point in his now-difficult life, the choice is his.

You know what? I hope he makes the honorable choice — and I wish him and his family well.

“The Trials of Ted Haggard” is scheduled to run Jan. 29 on HBO.