Video of Lt. Dan Choi speaking at the Human Rights Campaign’s rally to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell today.

Video by AmericaBlog

Pictures by Mike Airhart at the Human Rights Campaign’s noon rally to repeal the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy against LGBT servicemembers.

The good folks over at Queerty are mad at the Human Rights Campaign for opposing the inclusion of “ex-gays” as a distinct sexual orientation subject to protection under Disney’s non-discrimination policies.

Um.  Okay.  First let’s read what they had to say on the subject.  They start off so good:

In October we learned about the effort from Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays, the organization for those cured of The Gay, to get Disney to ban discrimination against ex-gays, the semi-legally protected sexual orientation class. It didn’t go so well.

A shareholder meeting this week saw the proposal get shot down, which Disney’s board recommended, and because there weren’t enough votes to reach a 3 percent threshold the matter cannot be brought up again for another four years.

Good work, shareholders!

The idea of “ex-gays” as a sexual orientation is a little bit silly for a few reasons. First, it suggests that sexual orientation can be changed, which is a farce. Second, if somebody was gay, but is now straight, that person is in theory a heterosexual, and would fall under any existing sexual orientation protections, because one’s sexuality cannot be a reason for termination.

Correct!  If ex-gays exist, they’re now heterosexuals, and thus already protected under sexual orientation protections!  I can only guess that the original writer of the piece was at this point incapacitated in some way (get well soon?), because the person who completed the piece went completely off the rails:

In a blog post, the Human Rights Campaign calls the shareholder vote a “victory.” Which is a little funny, because isn’t the Human Rights Campaign in favor of prohibiting all types of discrimination?

Us? We support banning workplace discrimination based on any sexuality. And that includes someone who believes he is ex-gay. We don’t want anyone forcing us to fit into the boxes they created, and we refuse to do the same to anyone else. If ex-gays want to be protected, great! We’ll support it! We don’t really believe anyone can ditch homosexuality, but if deep down you think you did, you shouldn’t be targeted in the workplace for identifying as a former ‘mo. Even if PFOX is a laughable institution, there are people out there who believe they are ex-gay, and they should not suffer the torment of workplace harassment for the same reasons gays, bisexuals, and transgender employees should not: because it isn’t right.

GUYS.  You won the argument against yourselves in the first paragraphs of your piece.  The Human Rights Campaign is indeed against all kinds of discrimination based on sexual orientation, but you just conceded that “ex-gays,” if they exist (!), are heterosexuals!  There is no room in the current policies for discrimination against people who say they’re not gay anymore!  They’re already covered!  To give an inch on this merely (and quite naïvely) plays into Regina Griggs’ and PFOX’s inane strategy to create some phantasmagorical parallel reality where people who identify as HETEROSEXUALS are the real victims of discrimination.

Think this through, because the argument you’ve put forth is just as inane as when Tony Perkins flagellates around the television screen complaining about hate crimes laws being used to punish Christians, since religion is protected under hate crimes laws as well.

The Human Rights Campaign (and we at Truth Wins Out) are solidly against discrimination of any sort based on sexual orientation.  ”Ex-gay” is not a sexual orientation.  Even if we were to pretend for a second that “ex-gays” were a real and lasting phenomenon, and even if we were to pretend for a second that there was a shred of truth to anything that comes out of the maws of Regina Griggs and PFOX, then “ex-gays” would be, by definition, HETEROSEXUAL, and again, protected.

Put another way:  What the hell kind of discrimination would Richard Cohen and his wife be subjected to if he decided to somehow parlay his pillow tennis racket beat-off extravaganza into a career dressing up as Cinderella during the nightly parade/fireworks show?  The wife would get benefits under their family plan, he couldn’t be fired for being married to a woman, etc.

Queerty people:  this entire thing from PFOX is a publicity stunt, and you fell for it.  I don’t know if this is what you all think of as “encouraging conversation” or being a “dissenting voice,” but there are ways to do that without embarrassing yourselves.

Three couples got married today in Washington DC at the Human Rights Campaign Equality Center.  One was Angelisa Young and Sinjoyla Townsend:

One night Townsend called Young, having recently realized what Young already knew. In the middle of a conversation about schoolwork, she said tenderly, “Every sunflower needs rain to grow. Would you be my rain?”

Young, who had long since given up on Townsend understanding the significance of her appearances at the gym, was confused. She thought, “This has nothing to do with the case” they had been discussing.

That was 12 years ago. They have tattoos on their wrists now: Townsend’s says “Sunflower” and Young’s says “Rain.”

On Tuesday they will have wedding bands as well. Townsend and Young, the first gay couple to apply for a marriage license after the District of Columbia legalized same-sex unions, also will be among the first to be married.

And then there was the Revs. Darlene Garner and Candy Holmes:

Garner and Holmes have been in an on-again-off-again relationship for more than 14 years. When asked why they took so long to realize they were right for each other, Garner and Holmes joked that their relationship is kind of like the movie, It’s Complicated. Along with two other African-American couples at the Human Rights Campaign’s Equality Center, the mothers of four and grandmothers of seven will finally jump the broom, a full 13 years after Garner first proposed to Holmes.

Holmes and Garner, both clergy in the LGBT-friendly Metropolitan Community Church, have been a family for a long time. But today, Garner says, represents “a public and legal recognition that our love can survive anything. We will spend the rest of our lives together in joy, no matter what might come.”

And then there was Rocky Galloway and Reggie Stanley, fathers of twin girls:

“There’s this whole controversy about African Americans; there are no gay African-American couples or what have you,” says Reggie Stanley, who will be marrying his partner, Rocky Galloway, at the ceremony tomorrow. Stanley said he and Galloway wanted to participate in the public ceremony because “we felt an obligation to make it clear that yes, we exist; we’re like anybody else; we’re healthy; we’re strong; we’re a family.”

Yes, they are.  Congratulations to all the couples.

If you missed the live stream of the weddings, the Human Rights Campaign will have video up shortly, they say.

Adam Serwer’s piece in The Root (second link above) focuses on the fact that all three are African-American couples.  The Religious Right, which is mostly made up of uptight white people, likes to use race as a wedge issue, which is insulting to the many people of color who also happen to be LGBT, as it reinforces the stereotypes Reggie Stanley mentioned, that being gay is a “white thing.”  Just yesterday Jeremy Hooper highlighted a typically disgusting missive from the Concerned Women for America which explicitly played the race card:

“This is an issue that reaches across the usual divisions by party or race or income class. In California, 70 percent of African-American voters — of whom virtually all voted for Barack Obama for president — voted for Proposition 8 to protect marriage. Marriage and family are foundational underpinnings of our society, and voters in 31 different states have treated them that way. It is not for legislatures or courts to decide whether or not these fundamental institutions will be redefined. The people of D.C. have yet to speak, and we will ensure they get that opportunity.”

Right.  Like CWA’s mission in life is to protect black voters.  Here’s what Jeremy had to say about it:

In our years of covering them, we have never seen one — NOT ONE! — African-American on CWA’s staff. Yet they want to tell the D.C. Black population how they should feel, suggesting that supposedly homo-hostile sentiment can monolithically transport itself from coast to coast? They who oppose Barack Obama with every fiber in their socially conservative beings want to go even further and exploit African-American support for the Democratic president? As we said: Gross!

Of course they don’t have black people on staff, Jeremy!  Most Christian Right organizations are direct descendants of the days of white supremacism.  You see it throughout their movement, actually, when they pen pieces which suggest that, essentially, if African-American voters knew what was good for them, they would vote Republican.

As I always say, well, they don’t vote Republican very much, and maybe (just maybe!!!) they don’t vote Republican for a damn good reason.

Anyway, in this case, polls show that, in the majority African-American Washington DC, marriage equality has majority support, so once they wrap their heads around that, CWA will probably stop race-baiting on the issue.

They only mention black people when it serves their purposes, after all.

(h/t Joe Sudbay)

Truth Wins Out co-hosted a press conference on Tuesday announcing the American Prayer Hour. The purpose of the APH, which is Thursday, February 4, is to offer an alternative to the annual National Prayer Breakfast, which takes place on the same day and is run by the secretive fundamentalist organization known as The Family. This shadowy group is directly tied to the notorious “Kill the Gays” bill in Uganda.

Among those who spoke were:

Harry Knox, Director of Religion and Faith for the Human Rights Campaign

Bishop Gene Robinson

Moses, a young gay man from Uganda, is seeking asylum in the United States because he fears for his life in Uganda

Please join an American Prayer Hour event tomorrow (Feb. 4) in a city near you.

(Moses, pictured left, is a gay Ugandan seeking asylum in the U.S. who had to hide his face at today’s press conference. He feared persecution and even violence if his identity were known.)

Religious Leaders Urge America’s Leaders to Speak Out Against Event’s Connection to Abhorrent Ugandan “Anti-Homosexuality Bill”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Key religious leaders held a press conference this morning at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. to announce the formation of The American Prayer Hour, a multi-city event to be held in two days on February 4, 2010, with key events in Washington, D.C., Dallas, Chicago and Berkeley and to call on organizers of the National Prayer Breakfast, Members of Congress attending and the President to use the opportunity to send a clear, unified message against the horrendous Ugandan “Anti-Homosexuality Bill”.

The American Prayer Hour was announced as an alternative to the National Prayer Breakfast which is sponsored by The Family (aka The Fellowship), a group with disturbing ties to those spearheading Uganda’s oppressive “Anti-Homosexuality Bill.” The Bill proposed by Parliament Member, David Bahati, adds an array of criminal punishments for gay people—including the death penalty.

Harry Knox, Director of Religion and Faith for the Human Rights Campaign,(pictured left) opened the press conference and said, “Tax documents from The Family show millions of dollars have gone into programs run by David Bahati, Ugandan Parliament Member who wrote the anti-gay legislation for Uganda. With that kind of influence, we call on the head of The Family, Doug Coe, to publicly speak out against the proposed anti-gay bill in Uganda. Our nation’s public officials, religious leaders and civil and human rights champions must speak with one, clear voice that the proposed execution of a group of people for no other reason than because of their sexuality is immoral and will not be tolerated or condoned through silence. Members of Congress and other elected officials attending this event cannot turn a blind eye to the obligation they have to speak out against such inhumane proposals such as the legislation being proposed in Uganda.”

Metropolitan Community Church pastor, the Rev. Elder Darlene Garner, (pictured) said, “MCC is an international denomination at work in dozens of countries so we know firsthand that hatred of gay people is not limited to Uganda. Sadly, conservative groups like The Family continue to spread lies and foment rejection of people based on perceived or real differences in sexual orientation and gender identity. In the name of protecting families, they tell parents to reject their sons and daughters. Implicitly they ask families to imprison their own people and inflict the death penalty on them, whether on the streets or in the jails.”

Moses, a gay Ugandan man seeking asylum in The United States said, “It breaks my heart that I have to leave my family and loved ones to seek asylum in this country simply because I am gay. Even as I speak, gay people a are being persecuted as a result of this proposed law against gay people. I can only imagine how bad it will be if the bill is actually passes.”

Bishop Gene Robinson, (pictured left) the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church said, “I spent time in Uganda to help set up HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs many years ago. Ugandans are a generous and hospitable people. But because of an unholy alliance between conservative religious groups in this country and anti-gay forces overseas Ugandans are turning on their own Ugandan sons and daughters who happen to be gay. This proposed law is a threat to LGBT people in Uganda and everywhere. Around 35% of Ugandans are Anglican and 45% are Catholic. Although many faith leaders have stood by silently, today we speak out on behalf of the marginalized. Faith leaders of all traditions should speak out for the most vulnerable in Uganda before it’s too late.”

Bishop Carlton Pearson, (left, with collar) interim senior pastor at Chicago’s Christ Universal Temple said, “As a straight ally, gay and transgender people come to me and say ‘thank you for speaking out.’ In Uganda, gay and transgender people cannot even say ‘thank you.’ They are being silenced by the threat of imprisonment and death. In the yawning silence, we must speak and we must pray. Both religious and political leaders must pray for gay people in Uganda and stop preying on them.”

Frank Schaeffer, (pictured left) son of pre-eminent conservative theologian, Francis Schaeffer said, “As a person who was raised in the heart of conservative Christianity, it took me years to realize that anti-gay beliefs are wrong and not inherent to Christianity. Today, fundamentalists are exporting anti-gay beliefs because fewer and fewer people here believe the lies. It’s time to stop using gay people as political pawns and understand that we are all children of God.”

Barry Lynn, Executive Director of Americans for Separation of Church (pictured below) said, “We are heartened to note that Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and the State Department, under President Obama’s direction, have been actively working against the proposed anti-gay law in Uganda. These efforts have led Ugandan President Museveni and MP David Bahati to signal that they are considering changes to the legislation. But, now is not the time to ease up the pressure but to continue to push for full decriminalization of gay and transgender people. We ask that President Obama to take the lead on human rights for everyone, everywhere, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Interested in attending an American Prayer Hour event? Want to organize an APH event in your town?

CLICK HERE

Media Contact: Wayne Bessen, American Prayer Hour Coordinator
Phone: 917-691-5118  E-Mail: wbesen@truthwinsout.org
Website: www.AmericanPrayerHour.org

Multi-City Prayer Hour Offers Alternative to the National Prayer Breakfast Whose Leaders Have Apparent Ties to Uganda’s Draconian Anti-Homosexuality Bill

What: On Tuesday, February 2, 2010 key religious leaders will hold a press conference to announce the formation of The American Prayer Hour, a multi-city event on Thursday, February 4, 2010, with key events in Washington, DC, Dallas, Chicago and Berkeley.  The American Prayer Hour events will affirm inclusive values and call on all nations, including Uganda, to decriminalize the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. The American Prayer Hour provides an alternative to the National Prayer Breakfast, which is sponsored by The Family (aka The Fellowship), a group with disturbing ties to those spearheading Uganda’s oppressive Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

When: Tuesday, February 2, 2010 – 10:30 a.m. (EST)

Where: The National Press Club (Washington, DC) Murrow Room
529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor – Washington, DC 20045

Who: Bishop Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church

Frank Schaeffer, author, “Crazy For God: How I Grew Up
As One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right and Lived to Take
All of it Back.”

Harry Knox, The Human Rights Campaign, Director of Religion and Faith

Moses, A gay Ugandan man seeking asylum in The United States

Rev. Elder Darlene Garner, Metropolitan Community Church, Vice-Moderator, Board of Elders

Bishop Carlton Pearson, Senior Minister at Chicago, Illinois’ Christ Universal Temple

Background: Uganda is considering the Anti-Homosexuality Bill 2009, put forth by parliamentarian David Bahati and initially backed by President Yoweri Museveni. If passed, the new law would unleash a vicious campaign of persecution against LGBT citizens. Bahati and President Museveni are members of The Family and are among their “key men” in Africa. The Family hosts the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington.  The American Prayer Hour will show that such cruelty and extremism does not represent most people of faith.

Sponsors:

National Black Justice Coalition

Religion and Faith Program
Human Rights Campaign Foundation

Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation

National Religious Leadership Roundtable
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

Metropolitan Community Churches

Full Equality Now DC

PFLAG National

Truth Wins Out

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: Anti-gay organizations have a profound disrespect for their followers. It is accurate to conclude that they believe their flocks are stupid and can be counted on to not think for themselves. Thus, we see these sheep force fed obvious lies and distortions – and the membership of such anti-gay groups appear to eat it up.

To the point, the American Family Association put out a breathless article basically making stuff up about hate crimes legislation winding its way though Congress. According top the AFA:

Here’s what wrong with the “hate crimes” bill:

• AFA: It criminalizes thought. For the first time in American history, criminal penalties are being attached to thoughts, not actions. Perpetrators will receive extra punishment not for what they did but for what they were thinking when they did it.

FACT CHECK: No one will be prosecuted simply for what they think or say. The law only applies if violent action is also involved. One would think that a “Christian” group would approve of this – but apparently, the AFA is opposed to all efforts to stop anti-gay violence. Furthermore, hate crime legislation is not new, it has existed for years in several states and the federal level covering categories, such as race, national origin and religion. All the current legislation would do would add sexual orientation and gender identity these other categories. The AFA would have more credibility if it worked to strip religion from existing hate crime laws.

• AFA: It endangers freedom of religion and speech. Everywhere in the world “hate crimes” laws have gone into effect, they have quickly been used to harass, intimidate, silence and punish people of faith. Your pastor could go to jail if even a tenuous link could be established between a sermon on homosexuality and some act of violence.

FACT CHECK: According to the Human Rights Campaign, all but five states (Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Wyoming) have laws addressing hate crimes. Indeed, 36 states have hate crime laws that include sexual orientation. In these states – representing the vast majority of Americans – the dire warnings by the AFA have not come to pass. In other words, if you are an AFA follower, this group is lying to you and trying to scare you into giving them money.

• AFA: It destroys the American principle of equality under the law. It creates a judicial caste system, in which some victims get more legal protection than others. It actively discriminates against heterosexuals by giving them less protection in law than victims who engage in non-normative sexual behaviors.

FACT CHECK: As stated above, several classes – including religion – are already covered by state and federal hate crime laws. So, the only people suffering inequality are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans who are not yet covered. The passage of this new law will change this injustice.

• AFA: In a devious maneuver by Democrats, it’s attached to a Defense Appropriations bill. Our military deserves a stand-alone vote on funding.

FACT CHECK: Attaching small measures to larger bills is the way Washington works. If the AFA has an issue with it, they can’t just speak up and whine when it is bill that will protect gay people. To do so reveals that AFA is a narrow special interest group with an anti-gay agenda.

The bottom line is, if I sent such inaccurate, anti-intellectual garbage to the Truth Wins Out membership, they would laugh in my face and quit the organization. Yet, the members of The American Family Association are continuously mocked and disrespected by the AFA – yet they keep sending money and support.

Folks, get educated and think for yourself, it will change your life.

On October 10, 2009, President Barack Obama spoke to the Human Rights Campaign about GLBT issues. On Oct. 11, 2009, Truth Wins Out’s Executive Director, Wayne Besen, commented on the speech and the National Equality March that took place later that day.

I was proud to have marched alongside tens of thousands of like-minded GLBT people and allies to celebrate our lives and demand full equality. We are at a unique moment, where the Democrats rule Capitol Hill and occupy the White House. Those who marched want to seize this special moment and pass legislation while we are in the majority. The weekend was Democracy in action and it certainly energized the young people – who will be our advocates and champions of tomorrow.

The march was the perfect complement to the Human Rights Campaign dinner, featuring Barack Obama. The two events combined to capture the attention of the national media and offered a platform to make our case directly to the President, Congress and the American people.

In this effort, I appeared on FOX’s O’Reilly Factor and twice on MSNBC. Other GLBT advocates made the media rounds – and by doing so, there was no doubt that the President, or at least key aides heard our voices. We were also able to illustrate to fair-minded Americans why we are impatient to gain equality.

The march may not have been as large as those of yesteryear. But, it achieved its desired effect, because it put a spotlight on our issues at a key moment in history and let the Washington establishment know that NOW is the time to take action.

The festivities also served as a great contrast between our civilized, mature behavior and that of the extremist teabaggers, who behaved like tantrum throwing infants. Indeed, once could see the moral depravity of our opponents at the march with their infantile “Sodomy Truck” and hateful rhetoric – thinly disguised as “love”.

Our job, as activists, is to keep pushing Congress and the Obama Administration to take action and end our second-class citizenship. Please join us in our quest for full equality.