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

Sometimes I feel like all I ever talk about is the way that anti-gay wingnuts have a severe victim complex, when it is of course they whose actions and views inflict harm on unsuspecting gay adults and kids, and our families and friends, every single day.

Severely anti-gay basketcase Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern has written a book:

Whatever. It’s on Amazon, so go review it if you’re feeling puckish.

UPDATE:
Hahaha, Hunger Tallest Palin points out in the comments that people are having a lot of fun stoning Sally Kern even more on Amazon, as these are currently the most popular tags for Sally’s “book.” You’ll want to click it to embiggen it:

What can be said about last night’s election that hasn’t been said about malignant tumors?  Okay, let’s look at the good, the bad and the ugly.

Good

Lexington, Kentucky, has an openly gay mayor!  His name is Jim Gray, and his election is a nice silver lining for a state which elected an ophthalmologist with a distaste for the Civil Rights Act to represent them in the United States Senate.  Also, the new Congressman from RI-1 is Providence’s mayor David Cicilline, who is also openly gay.  And perhaps sweetest, Barney Frank beat back his opposition, Sean Bielat, who had inexplicably been endorsed by GOProud, and retained his seat in the House.  In all, 106 openly gay candidates were elected around the country last night.

NOM spent a ton of money trying to get rid of the Democratic governor of New Hampshire, John Lynch — they think he is terrible because he signed the marriage equality law there — but voters there gave Lynch an unpredecented fourth term in office.

California has a Democratic governor again in Jerry Brown, and Meg Whitman is $141 million poorer.  So that’s funny.  Tom Tancredo will decidedly not be the governor of Colorado.  Sexist, anti-gay wingnut freak Carl Paladino lost, lost, LOST in his bid to become governor of New York; that job is for Andrew Cuomo, thanks.

House:  Democrat Loretta Sanchez squeaked out a victory in California, thank goodness.  New Orleans is back in Democratic hands, though the Republican who lost was probably the most decent guy on that side of the aisle.  Marcy Kaptur is still with us in Ohio; her challenger, Rich Iott, who like, dresses up in Nazi garb or something on Saturdays, is filling out job applications today.

Senate:  At least we still have the Senate.  Carly Fiorina is a loooooser; Barbara Boxer keeps her job.  Democrats hold Connecticut, while sending wrestling wingnut Linda McMahon back to find a different job.  Christine O’Donnell, of course, will not be the Senator of anything, ever; that job is for Chris Coons.  Harry Reid brought it back to defeat Sharron Angle, which has to make wingnuts insane.  One of the LGBT community’s staunchest allies, Kirsten Gillibrand, has been elected to a full term in the Senate, and Chuck Schumer’s still with us too.  Also, Joe Manchin pulled it out in West Virginia.

Those are the good things from last night.  Now…

Bad/Ugly

A majority of Iowans, thanks to the Religious Right, apparently are illiterate when it comes to the role of the judiciary, having ousted three of the Supreme Court judges who granted same-sex couples the long overdue right to marry.  The judiciary, of course, is not intended to be run by partisans, but don’t expect anything short of a preschool-level understanding of civics from groups like the National Organization for Marriage and the Family Research Council, which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars that could have been spent feeding impoverished children on hurting gay families in the state.  Silver lining there, though:  if you’ll remember, the Iowa Supreme Court decision was unanimous, which means that seven judges voted for it.  Regardless of who gets those jobs, we still have a majority on the court.

Jan Brewer has now been elected as Arizona’s governor.  They’re workin’ real hard to make sure everybody knows Arizona as the Alabama of the Southwest, aren’t they?  The proposition to legalize marijuana went down in California, continuing California’s pattern of doing really good things and really bad things, all at the same time, when they go to the polls.

Senate:  Welcome wingnut senators Marco Rubio in Florida, Mark Kirk in Illinois — we’ll get that seat back easily, by the way — , Dan Coats in Indiana, Rand Paul in Kentucky, Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania, and welcome back the biggest yokel in the Senate, Jim DeMint, who somehow pulled out a massive win over his handpicked opponent, Alvin Greene.  Sadly, Russ Feingold lost his job, to pave the way for new wingnut Ron Johnson in Wisconsin.

And the House.  Oh, the House.  Enjoy wingnuts, all y’all who thought voting To Teach Democrats A Lesson was a good idea.  Thanks for taking the stalemate in Washington up nine or ten notches.  It’s not like government is supposed to do anything, is it?  My favorite Congressman, Alan Grayson, lost his job last night, due to the confusion and stupidity of voters in his district.  Michele Bachmann won again, proving that district is likely one of the most frightening in the nation when it comes to reading comprehension, etc.  Virginia Foxx is also still with us in North Carolina, so that will continue to make for hilarious television.

Still too close to call: Michael Bennet (D) or Ken Buck (Wingnut) for Senate in Colorado?  Kinda scary.  Mark Dayton (D) or Tom Emmer (OMG) for governor of Minnesota?  Scarier.

Just funny: The wingnuts of Oklahoma have overwhelmingly chosen to make English their official language, which means those voters have a LOT of basic grammar to study, and they’ve also chosen to ban Shari‘a law within their borders.  So, um.  Did not know that was a threat!  Also, Tennessee has now enshrined in its Constitution the God-giv’n right to hunt and fish, as if that was somehow threatened.

Anyway.  That’s what I find significant from last night’s election.  What are you happy/sad/enraged by from last night?

This, I’m sure you will agree, is the ultimate in classy behavior:

A political action committee that supports Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern sent an e-mail to members this week calling Kern’s transgender opponent, Democrat Brittany Novotny, “a confused it.” The e-mail from the Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee, posted on Novotny’s website on Thursday, goes on to say that “Some have suggested that having a sex change operation is a person’s greatest act of rebellion and hatred toward God for His making them what they were.”

“It is truly sad to see people reject God’s love for them by being willing to mutilate themselves,” the OCPAC e-mail states. “If they would submit their life to God, they could find the true the joy in life that will forever elude them while on their path of rebellion. The hatred and rage toward Sally continues unabated in the homosexual community because Sally dared to declare their political agenda for what it truly is, more dangerous to the future of America than the threat of terrorism.”

Even if people don’t understand transgender people, it’s always a bit amazing to me how some will react to people they don’t understand, what kind of simple, visceral hatred they’ll throw around, based on their own flaccid pig ignorance.

Here’s the full e-mail so you can see the context:

—–Original Message—–
From: ocpacupdate@googlegroups.com [mailto:ocpacupdate@googlegroups.com] On
Behalf Of Charlie Meadows
Sent: Tuesday, September 07, 2010 10:06 AM
To: Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee
Subject: OCPAC e-mail

Members and friends of the Oklahoma Conservative Political Action
Committee (OCPAC). …

SALLY KERN’S OPPONENT IN HOLLYWOOD FOR A FUNDRAISER

A week ago Saturday, State Representative Sally Kern’s opponent Brittany Novotny attended a fundraiser on her behalf in the home of Hollywood actor and voice over artist Ben Patrick Johnson. In a group picture I saw, presumably at Johnson’s home in West Hollywood, Brittany was actually smiling right in the middle of what I guess was about 50 likeminded people.

Brittany used to be a “he”, had a sex change operation to make him into a “her” but turned out to become a confused “it.” Some have suggested that having a sex change operation is a person’s greatest act of rebellion and hatred toward God for His making them what they were.

It is truly sad to see people reject God’s love for them by being willing to mutilate themselves. If they would submit their life to God, they could find the true the joy in life that will forever elude them while on their path of rebellion. The hatred and rage toward Sally continues unabated in the homosexual community because Sally dared to declare their political agenda for what it truly is, more dangerous to the future of America than the threat of terrorism.

Brittany has suggested Sally doesn’t represent the values of her constituents. Sally, on the other hand, from the time she first ran for office, told her constituents that she was a Christian and would stand for traditional morality and family values. Aside from the moral issues, Sally is one of the most conservative and well informed lawmakers in the state on a broad range of issues. In November, we will see which set of values the voters in HD 84 care most about. Remember, all elections are first about the quality and character of the voters.

I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.

Charlie Meadows

Sally Kern made her infamous statement about homosexuality being worse than terrorism over two years ago.  Now she is trying to explain what she meant!  It’s not a matter of quality, but a matter of quantity, you see:

When you mention the name Sally Kern, most people think of the now-infamous speech she gave two years ago, declaring homosexuals more dangerous to America than terrorists. But that is the first of many misconceptions Kern says she wants to clear up.

“Here in America we’ve had what maybe three known real big terrorist attacks on our nation,” Kern said. “But every day our young people especially, all of us, but our young people especially are in a sense bombarded with the message that homosexuality is normal and natural.”

Now it all makes sense! Every day in every town across America, kids are coming to the realization that they’re sexually attracted to members of the same sex, and this is worse than terrorism (such as the Oklahoma City bombing, which happened, ahem, in her city), because if those kids are given the opportunity to live happy and fulfilling lives, Sally Kern will shit a blue brick, and she cares a lot more about that than children being blown up by domestic terrorists, because she’s a hateful, disturbed, poorly educated woman.

GOT IT.

This woman was elected to office by [purportedly] sentient beings, people.

[h/t Dallas Voice]

A prominent gay activist was found dead in his Okla. apartment just two days after he filed a brutality complaint against the Tulsa Police Department, MyFoxPhoenix.com reported.

Keith Kimmel made headlines in February when he fought the state for the right to own a license plate reading: “IM GAY.” Kimmel sued Okla. after the state’s Tax Commission denied his license plate request.

Kimmel recently filed a formal complaint with police after a scuffle outside a night club, a friend told MyFoxPhoenix.com. Kimmel alleged that officers “dragged [him] around the parking lot on [his] stomach” and “hit [his] head on the door frame several times,” a friend was quoted by the site.

This is quite interesting and seems suspicious. Given that the local police are involved, perhaps it would be good to have the FBI investigate.

Twenty antigay Oklahoma politicians including state Rep. Sally Kern — who recently enjoyed the enthusiastic public support of Oklahoma-based Exodus ex-gay activist Stephen Black — voted to suppress the public record of the opening prayer for the Oklahoma House of Representatives. (Sixty-seven voted in favor of recording it.)

Here is the entirety of the prayer that they hated: (Read More)

Oklahoma Baptist Pastor Steve Kern, husband of notorious Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern, reportedly believes gay Americans should be incarcerated and forcibly “cured.”

“We have to get rid of that and start curing those sinners. It’ past time that this nation stopped placating sin and start putting them in education programs. Courts can force drug offenders into treatment centers and violent people into anger management. There’ no reason our courts can’t do that with homos.”

While he builds support among ex-gay activists for arrest and involuntary quack medical treatments, Kern in the meantime is said by the Gossip Boy blog to be teaming up with Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett to rid the city’s public libraries of accurate health, scientific, and therapeutic information about sexual orientation. According to James Miko and Wayne Fuller, the pair plan a campaign to “rid the library system of all gay and lesbian materials, as well as those their church-based philosophies find objectionable.”

Their goals:

• Win the 2010 governor’s race and gain power at any cost
• Deprive Oklahoma families of any information that might help them accurately and constructively understand gay family members
• Censor information that exposes the persistent failure of ex-gay programs to “change” their participants’ sexual orientation
• Use government power and taxpayer money to enrich corrupt ex-gay quacks from Exodus International and NARTH, the religious-rightist reparative-therapy lobby.

(Read More)

On Tuesday, Oklahoma County Commissioner Brent Rinehart was booted out of office by voters in his district, finishing third in a three-way primary. Rinehart came under scrutiny this month when he mailed a 16-page cartoon book as part of his re-election campaign that makes fun of gays and criticizes his political opponents. The book featured an angel who supports Rinehart and Satan, who supports his critics. It also included a gay man in a toga chasing a Boy Scout.

Rinehart is set for trial in September on several felony campaign corruption charges. He is accused of circumventing state campaign finance laws by having donors give money to a political action committee formed by his campaign manager, promising those funds would be used in his quest to be elected county commissioner in 2004.

Rinehart is Exhibit A of why the right wing is losing power. They are corrupt and then hide behind the Bible when they bamboozle the public.

Goodbye Rinehart. I guess you’ll feel better about your crushing defeat knowing it was God’s will.

Against freedom: An antigay Catholic group is upset that many Catholic universities permit freedom of speech and freedom of association among their gay-tolerant students and faculty. Styling itself as “The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property,” the group claims that, out of 211 U.S. Catholic universities and colleges, at least 96 have pro-tolerance clubs on campus. Patrick Reilly of the Cardinal Newman Society equates tolerance of homosexual persons and their constitutional rights with promotion of homosexual activity, and he insinuates that sexual honesty is incompatible with “students’ moral formation.” Focus on the Family appears sympathetic to both Catholic antigay groups. (Focus)

Freedom from crime a “special right”: In its ongoing war against young victims of violence, the antigay American Family Association of Michigan has targeted state Sen. Valde Garcia, a Republican, for his support of legislation to protect students from bullying. Gary Glenn of AFA/M asserts that protection from bullying amounts to “special rights” if youths’ specific at-risk demographics are acknowledged. But Garcia says he had already threatened to withdraw his sponsorship of the legislation unless a list of protected demographics was removed. However, Garcia then contradicted himself — admitting he would hypothetically support legislation granting explicit anti-crime protections if they were limited to seniors, children and police. According to Sean Kosofsky of The Triangle Foundation, “If it’s not specific, it [anti-bullying legislation] will end up having little impact.” Kosofsky added, “There’s nothing gay about this bill whatsoever. It protects all students.” (Daily Press & Argus)

Gay genetics study: ABC News oversimplifies research into ties between genetics and homosexuality by falsely suggesting up-front that researchers seek a single gene that might explain sexual orientation. That’s not the case. According to the fine print in ABC’s own news story, the hypothesis is more complex:

Dr. Alan Sanders, a psychiatric geneticist at Northwestern Healthcare Research Institute, is currently heading the biggest study ever undertaken on sexual orientation. He’s looking at the genetic makeup of more than 700 sets of gay brothers.

“I think the evidence is pretty convincing already that a substantial contribution to sexual orientation comes from genetics,” he said. “It’s probably the single biggest factor that we know about.”

FRC apologizes: Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council apologizes for suggesting that America export its gay citizens in lieu of granting legal immigration to their foreign partners. (FRC Blog)

Kern meets with PFLAG: Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern still says equality for gay people is a bigger threat to America than terrorists — and further calls her opinion “Biblical.” But she has also met with members of the Oklahoma City chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, and stated that she opposes discrimination against gays in the workplace. That should infuriate Concerned Women for America, which defended Kern’s terror talk as something that “reasonable people can debate.” Earlier, Kern debated a gay Christian pastor on KFOR-TV. (Queerty, PageOneQ, Good As You)