In a rant about President Obama, radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh sarcastically said he wanted to thank the president for “appointing a pervert to serve as the safe schools czar.”

Limbaugh was referring to former GLSEN founder Kevin Jennings. Oddly, this was part of a fiery monologue on how the right wing was not extreme. Thanks for proving the point of your critics, Mr. Limbaugh.

I wrote the other day about Alan Chambers’ bizarre talk at the Liberty University G-H8 summit. In case that left you wanting more, here’s Rena Lindevaldsen of Liberty Counsel* speaking for almost ten minutes about how, if Fundamentalists have to abide by the law in our secular society, it’s somehow a violation of their freedom of religion. Uh huh. Just to clear things up: religious freedom doesn’t include the right to lord your beliefs over other peoples’ lives. Note that every complaint Rena has about non-discrimination laws involves conservative Christians feeling the need to use their religious beliefs as a club to hurt other people. THAT is the freedom our opponents fight for. They’re not fighting for the right to believe and worship as they please. They have that, and they’ll always have that, because no one has ever threatened to take it away!

No, these people are simply children who refuse to learn to play well with others, and if I was their preschool teacher, I’d have a really hard time passing them.

Anyway, Rena goes over the Religious Right’s Greatest Hits:

1. Catholic Charities wouldn’t abide by the law in Massachusetts, so they cried victim when they freely chose to close their doors, thereby throwing children under the bus.

2. The photographer in New Mexico who broke the laws of the state of New Mexico when she refused to photograph a same-sex wedding. Was she a photographer working in a religious institution? Oh hell, of course not! She just thought she should be able to deny her services to any groups/people she doesn’t like, much in the way restaurants denied service to African Americans before the law compelled them to do differently.

3. The couple running the bed and breakfast in Vermont who opened their space for weddings and parties, oh, except that one time when (!!!) a homosexshul couple wanted to have their wedding reception there, so they said no, and used their religious bigotry as an excuse to deny that service.

4. The YMCA had to allow gay couples to have family memberships! OH NO! The sky is falling, and it’s like lions are personally eating Rena Lindevaldsen’s flesh!

What tedious whiners!

Anyway, here’s the video, if you want to watch it. She moans and groans about transgender people, GLSEN, Kevin Jennings, PFOX and some other bullroar. But again, notice that NONE of the so-called “religious discrimination” she whines about involves their actual religious freedom. It’s ALL about religious people being denied the right to their own self-appointed moral pedestal over the rest of the population.

(h/t Good As You)

OH AND ONE TIME THERE WAS THIS BOOK CALLED KING AND KING! HAVE WE WHINED ABOUT THAT ONE TODAY? Yeah. She whines about King and King. Again.

Seriously, these fools need some new material.

*Lisa Miller, your client, is still a kidnapper on the lam. Just pointing that out.

Under the leadership of James Dobson, Focus on the Family was infamous for distorting the work of researchers, earning it the nickname, “Focus on the Fallacies”.

Then, the organization was labeled, “Focus on the Foolishness” after Dobson suggested that Sponge Bob was gay. (Yes, the cartoon sponge that lived in a pineapple under the sea)

We must also remember, “Focus on the Fairytale”, the name given the organization after I photographed its “ex-gay” leader John Paulk in a gay bar.

With Dobson retiring, however, it is clear that Focus on the Family is adrift and searching for a new mission. It may have found one in its blistering attack on the play “Santa Claus is Coming Out”.

Instead of helping real families in a time of economic upheaval, the right wing organization is in a tizzy over this comedy that poses the serious question: “What if Santa Claus were actually gay?”

By using an imaginary icon, we can explore how people would react if a real superstar, such as a politician, athlete, or leading man in Hollywood came out of the closet. Given the stereotypes and prejudice against GLBT people, this is a legitimate subject well worth exploring.

Unfortunately, Focus on the Family provides the answer by exploiting this issue for political gain and distorting the essence of the production. The Gay, Lesbian, Straight, Education Network (GLSEN) will also benefit from a charity performance of “Santa Claus is Coming Out”, giving Focus on the Family further reason to misrepresent the play, as they did in its bigot blog Citizenlink.

In a story headlined “GLSEN Fundraiser Sexualizes Santa”, the group claims that the comedy, “perverts the innocence of Christmas and sexualizes the longtime, child-revered icon of Santa Claus.” The group went on to claim that the goal of Santa Claus is Coming Out is to, “desensitize kids and attack parents’ God-given rights to protect their innocence.”

Interestingly, Focus on the Family had no such concern about “innocence” when it heedlessly and needlessly “outed” Sponge Bob a few years ago to millions of youth. Until Dobson spoke, who knew that Bob’s pineapple was a gay bar that made divine tropical drinks?

The charges leveled against Santa Is Coming Out are ludicrous, if not libelous. In an interview with Instinct Magazine, Playwright Jeffrey Solomon rebutted Focus on the Family’s bogus charges.

“We have not marketed this play with sex,” said Solomon. “The play is not about sex. The play simply asks a hypothetical question: ‘How would the world react, if Mrs. Claus were revealed to be a beard, and that Santa Claus was actually a gay man?’ The very mention or the image of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people is not automatically sexual, unless you are viewing them with sex-tinted glasses.”

Solomon is correct to say that Focus on the Family is choosing to sexualize a non-sexual comedy in order to rile up its batty base. What the group means when it says parents have “God-given rights to protect their (childrens’) innocence,” is that fundamentalist Christians are superior to the rest of us. That they have the unique “right” to censor and silence people who disagree with their “Valuless Traditions” disguised as “Traditional Values”.

Sorry, but in America GLBT families are a positive reality and they will not just disappear or hide because hate groups are opposed to their very existence. Indeed, it is poor parenting to instill prejudice in young people and preach intolerance in the name of religious belief. America’s youth should be taught to respect all people and be presented with a realistic view of our nation’s diverse families. To do otherwise is irresponsible and a failure to prepare a child to succeed in the world.

Isn’t it time that Focus on the Family take its huge budget of more that $125 million and help real families stay together? Has this group done anything substantive to address the divorce rate in America? Has it stopped child or spousal abuse? Has this wealthy organization increased living wages so families can afford to stay together?

Nope.

Instead it wastes precious time and money on petty, media-friendly pet issues that play well to frothing fundamentalists who get worked into a lather and then donate what little money they have left over from their paychecks.

By attacking this play, Focus on the Family has earned a new nickname: “Focus on the Frivolous.”

I applaud Jeffrey Solomon and director Joe Brancato for producing a play that will make people think, which is a heck of a lot more than Focus on the Family is asking of its followers.

If you are in New York City, “Santa Claus is Coming Out” is running until Dec. 20 at the Kirk Theater (410 West 42nd Street). Tickets can be ordered by calling 212-279-4200. (www.ticketcentral.com)

Full-statement from Jeffrey Solomon:

This is playwright Jeffrey Solomon, writer and performer of “Santa Claus is Coming Out” the play that was attacked by Focus on the Family Action Education Analyst Candi Cushman on her blog

December 3rd: http://citizenlinkblog.com/drivethru/2009/12/glsen-fundraiser-sexualizes-santa-claus/

Her indictment of the play was riddled with misinformation, distortions, half truths and outright lies including that

“Pictures on a Web site promoting the production depict Santa in not-so-subtle sexually suggestive situations.”

This is just not true. We have not marketed this play with sex. The play is not about sex. The play simply asks a hypothetical question. “How would the world react, if Mrs. Claus were revealed to be a beard, and that Santa Claus was actually a gay man?”

The image I believe Ms. Cushman is referring to is of me, a grown man, sitting on Santa’s lap in a way that would suggest I am a boyfriend or spouse. We are reading a newspaper heralding the news of Santa Claus being outed to the world.

It is NOT a sexual image, anymore than Mrs. Claus and Santa Claus holding hands is a sexual image, or the Little Mermaid kissing her beloved Prince Eric is sexual. 

I reject that classification categorically.

The very mention or the image of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people is not automatically sexual, unless you are viewing them with sex-tinted glasses.

Though her report was riddled with many other accusations, let me address Ms. Cushman’s central charge: “Clearly homosexual activists like Solomon have no qualms about using shock tactics to expose children to homosexuality.”

The intention of my play (or its marketing) was never to expose children to homosexuality.

This play is not intended or children. Nor was my intention to destroy the myth of Santa Claus. I love Santa Claus, really. The play is very much inspired by the magic of Santa Claus I loved as a child.

Rather it was to ask adults, “Why is it still taboo to be open and honest with young children, about the existence of gay people?”

We love to tell young children that Santa Claus exists, and yet at the same time, we pretend GLBT people don’t exist. We do this by feeding them a diet of exclusively heterosexual fairy tales, television and movies in which princesses can kiss and marry princes (or even frogs) and beauties can live happily ever after with the beasts who abduct them.

But the child who may grow up to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered has no reflection of himself.

There is no happily ever after in sight during his or her formative years.

The other way we do this is the unspoken agreement too many of us make not to talk about the subject of GLBT people with children.

Teachers, aunt, uncles….We abide by a code that says GLBT lives are in some way inappropriate (and therefore profane) for children to know about.

This code reduces GLBT people to sexual beings only.

I can tell you that the fact that subject was unmentionable and invisible when I was a child caused me a lot of unnecessary pain and shame.

God bless my parents, but I believe that it takes a village of affirming adults, who are responsible to “protect the children.”

I have created in the play, the Santa Claus I needed. The one I wish I had known. There is nothing sexual about that.

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

Americans Are Tired of the Politics of Personal Destruction, Says TWO

NEW YORK – Truth Wins Out criticized the on-going smear campaign that anti-gay organizations and politicians are orchestrating against Kevin Jennings, who is serving as the Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools.

“We are witnessing a disgraceful political hit job filled with baseless allegations, ugly innuendo and outright homophobia,” said Truth Wins Out Executive Director Wayne Besen. “Kevin Jennings is a hero that has saved the lives of many students and is eminently qualified for his position. Thanks to his work, countless gay youth were able to concentrate on scholastic success instead of basic survival or even suicide.”

Jennings, the founder of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight, Education Network (GLSEN) has the support of the National Association of School Psychologists , Learning First Alliance , National Education Association, National Association of Secondary School Principals, Council for Exceptional Children and the Social Workers Association of America.

The groundless attacks intensified after fifty-three House Republicans signed a letter to the Obama administration asking for the dismissal of Jennings. “As the founder of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, Mr. Jennings has played an integral role in promoting homosexuality and pushing a pro-homosexual agenda in America’ schools –an agenda that runs counter to the values that many parents desire to instill in their children,” the lawmakers write.

“Jennings “real agenda’ was promoting tolerance and stopping children from essentially getting mugged in schools because of their real or perceived sexual orientation,” said Besen. “These attempts to slime Jennings have nothing to do with his exemplary record or qualifications. Instead, extremists are trying to use Jennings as a proxy to further their culture war.

“When America elected Barack Obama,” Besen continued, “they wanted to end the politics of personal destruction and transcend politics as usual. People are tired of the lies, distortions and roaring rhetoric and it is time that anti-gay activists retire such tactics.”

The smears began when right wing media outlets irresponsibly reported that Jennings counseled a fifteen-year-old student who was allegedly having a relationship with a twenty-four year old man. They claimed he instructed the young man to use a condom, while he should have reported the illegal relationship to the authorities.

However, the truth is, the young man was actually 16, the legal age of consent, and no sexual relations actually occurred. The suggestion of condom use, if the young man had chosen to be sexually active, was appropriate, given the alternative was that he may have contracted HIV if he was ignorant on how to protect himself.

Media Matters tracked down the young man in question, Brewster, who said:

“In 1988, I had taken a bus home for the weekend, and on the return trip met someone who was also gay. The next day, I had a conversation with Mr. Jennings about it. I had no sexual contact with anybody at the time, though I was entirely legally free to do so. I was a sixteen year-old going through something most of us have experienced: adolescence.

“I find it regrettable that the people who have the compassion and integrity to protect our nation’s students are themselves in need of protection from homophobic smear attacks. Were it not for Mr. Jennings’ courage and concern for my well-being at that time in my life, I doubt I’d be the proud gay man that I am today.”

“It is beyond ridiculous that Jennings is being criticized for giving advice on a legal relationship that never even occurred,” said TWO’ Wayne Besen. “These abusive attacks are immoral and despicable and show that the modern Republican Party must resort to below the belt politics to hold onto its dwindling support.

“It is surreal that the GOP is once again posing as the party of family values,” continued Besen “One would think they were too busy walking the Appalachian Trail or applauding the “family values’ of Sens. David Vitter and John Ensign to even notice Jennings. Why is a party that is a billboard for bad behavior still preaching to America? Jennings is an outstanding educator and upstanding citizen. He should be left alone to do his job and educate America’ children.”

Truth Wins Out is a non-profit organization that counters anti-gay propaganda, exposes the “ex-gay” myth and educates America about gay life. For more information, visit TruthWinsOut.org.