On MSNBC tonight, Rachel Maddow reports on Prof. George Alan Rekers’ gay escort scandal. Rekers is co-founder of the “ex-gay” think-tank NARTH and of the Christian Right political group, the Family Research Council.

Maddow spotlights the contrast between the elder antigay activist’s alleged sexual behavior with a very young man, and Rekers’ letter to school boards, in which he posed as a “pediatric” expert and urged schools to be intolerant of LGBT youths — just two weeks before Rekers’ scandalous European vacation.

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Remember a few months ago when it was snowing in the northeast and mid-Atlantic states and right wing commentators, such as Glenn Beck, were making fun of Al Gore and deriding climate change?

Well, this week, New York City is setting record temperatures. People are sweating and drinking ice coffee in April. Yet, no liberal commentators are claiming that this proves global warming will melt the globe. Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann are not opportunistically claiming the sudden heat wave portends the precipice of doom.

You see, the right and the left are not mirror opposites balancing a great philosophical see-saw. On the left you have smart people trying to make sense of a complicated world by using empirical wisdom and raw data to extrapolate the truth to the best of their abilities. To this group, science is important and the truth is where the facts lead.

The extreme right is different. You have paranoid, conspiratorial people who have created a fantasy version of reality and cherry pick facts to support a narrow worldview. This explains why the right opportunistically used the snowstorms this winter to bash Al Gore for his great work on climate change, while there is no similar effort on the left to exploit the spring heatwave.

– Watch the video of Glenn Beck lying and exploiting the snow as evidence that global warming was a hoax

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow tonight recapped the known facts of Rick Warren’s history in Uganda, after he accused unnamed news media of lying.

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After weeks of stalling, Sen. James Inhofe expressed opposition to Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill — but he did not say whether he will tell this to his friend, President Museveni of Uganda.

And finally, Sen. Chuck Grassley denied any ties to The Family, but insiders continue to say otherwise.

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From Daily Kos:

Rachel Maddow has completed one of her patented epic takedown interviews. This one was with Richard Cohen author of Coming Out Straight and Gay Children, Straight Parents. Cohen’s work is one inspiration for the proposed homosexual death-penalty law in Uganda.

. . . As soon as the interview commenced Cohen condemned the proposed Ugandan law, claiming that he was a proponent for tolerance and understanding of gay people. Maddow pointed to a section of Coming Out Straight in which Cohen quotes a debunked study claiming that most molestation of children by teachers is by gay teachers, that gays target children for recruitment and so on and so forth. Cohen promised to remove that section of his book when the 3rd edition is released, and acknowleged the faultiness of the study’s. Score one for Maddow.

And it gets better:

Maddow also asked Cohen to justify a quote from Gay Children Straight Parents in which Cohen lists a series of reasons on why children may be gay. Amongst those reasons were divorce, and race. Maddow asked how race could possibly be a factor and initially Cohen denied that was in the book. Maddow held the book up, read the page number and the list again at which point Cohen pleaded that she was reading out of context. Maddow read the preceding paragraph from the book, in which Cohen explains there are several reasons children may be gay etc etc… Cohen then challenged Maddow to read the passage following the list, and it had no pertinence to the question. Finally Cohen just came out and admitted that race has no influence on whether or not a child may be gay.

One of the most electric moments in the interview came when Maddow told Cohen that he had “blood on your hands” because his work was being used to justify the persecution of gays. It was just riveting.

I’ve seen the interview and the words of Daily Kos do not do the interview justice. To borrow an old term, Maddow figuratively “ripped out Cohen’s heart and held it front of him so he could watch it beating while slipping away.”

I especially liked the part where she takes Cohen to task for using discredited researcher Paul Cameron ( if Maddow wanted to do a future show on Cameron and how the religious right continues to use his work, she could have a series of shows).

It just goes to show that having a “fierce advocate” is nice but nothing beats having one of your own take down the right.

It’s like a narcotic. I need more of it.

Cross-posted from Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow and journalist Jeff Sharlet on Monday discussed Uganda’s “Anti-Homosexuality Bill,” which would execute sexually active LGBT and HIV-positive Ugandans and imprison, for three years, any relative, pastor, or doctor who failed to report an LGBT person to police within 24 hours.

Sharlet described the connections between leading U.S. Christian Rightist Republican leaders, evangelist Rick Warren, and antigay Ugandan leaders such as President Yoweri Museveni; pastor Martin Ssempa; and David Bahati, the Uganda “ethics” minister who is leading the battle to enact the legislation.

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.

Truth Wins Out executive director Wayne Besen was supposed to appear on MSNBC today. Due to technical difficulties in the studio, it was postponed until Sunday.

The topic will be the high expectations that LGBT Americans have set for President Obama’s speech at the National Equality March this weekend, and whether Obama will recommit to equality NOW or disappoint Americans with delays and vague assurances.

We will keep you updated on the new interview time.