Thursday, May 31, 2012

Brody's Notes... U. S. Appeals Court In Boston Rules Key Provision Of DOMA Unconstitutional

By Brody Levesque | BOSTON. MA -- The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston ruled Thursday morning that a critical component of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as the union between a man and a woman, discriminates against married same-sex couples by denying them federal benefits.
The appellate justices agreed with a U. S. District court judge's ruling in 2010 who wrote that the law is unconstitutional because it interferes with the right of a state to define marriage and denies married gay couples federal benefits given to heterosexual married couples, including the ability to file joint tax returns. The appellate court didn't rule on the law's other provision, which said states without same-sex marriage cannot be forced to recognize gay unions performed in other states.
The decision by a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Gill v. Office of Personnel Management and Massachusetts v. United States, is the first instance of a federal appellate court striking down any portion of the 1996 law.
Judge Michael Boudin issued the ruling writing:
[M]any Americans believe that marriage is the union of a man and a woman, and most Americans live in states where that is the law today. One virtue of federalism is that it permits this diversity of governance based on local choice, but this applies as well to the states that have chosen to legalize same-sex marriage. Under current Supreme Court authority, Congress' denial of federal benefits to same-sex couples lawfully married in Massachusetts has not been adequately supported by any permissible federal interest.
Boudin also noted that since "U. S. Supreme Court review of DOMA is highly likely," the First Circuit court stayed implementation of its decision pending expected appeals to the Supreme Court.
When asked by reporters about today's action by the court, White House press secretary Jay Carney said, "There's no question that this is in concert with the president's views."
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said,
Today’s landmark ruling makes clear once again that DOMA is a discriminatory law for which there is no justification. 
It is unconstitutional for the federal government to create a system of first- and second-class marriages, and it does harm to families in Massachusetts every day. 
All Massachusetts couples should be afforded the same rights and protections under the law, and we hope that this decision will be the final step toward ensuring that equality for all.
The sentiments expressed by AG Coakley were in concert with a statement from Lambda Legal:
We are thrilled that another court- this time, the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit - has ruled that it is unconstitutional to deny respect to the marriages of lesbian and gay couples. 
The so-called Defense of Marriage Act is being challenged in multiple cases and it won't be long before that bad law is gone for good. 
We congratulate our colleagues at Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) and the State of Massachusetts for achieving this wonderful victory.

In Brief

STAFF REPORTS
Producer Of 'ELLEN'  Plus TMZ TV Show & Webzine Dies
Jim Patatore courtesy of Warner Brothers Television
LONDON, UK -- The BBC is reporting that Jim Paratore, who launched the TMZ website and produced The Ellen DeGeneres Show and The Rosie O’Donnell Show, has died at the age of 58 after suffering a massive heart-attack while on holiday in France.
Paratore served as the executive producer of Telepictures, the Warner Brothers production company which was responsible for producing numerous hit shows which also included The Bachelor' and 'The People's Court.'
Paratore's greatest success was the successful relaunch of the career of stand-up comic Ellen DeGeneres, whose TV career had been derailed after she had come out out as a lesbian in 1997. Television network executives were leary about putting her back on TV with her own show, until Paratore responded by speaking with local station managers across the United States to convince them that DeGeneres was a talented TV presence. The ELLEN show launched in 2003 and has proven to be a durable presence on daytime TV that has lasted nine seasons.
Upon hearing the news of her long-time producer's death, DeGeneres tweeted: "My friend, producer and champion Jim Paratore died today. He gave me a chance when no one else would. I love you, Jim."
Paratore teamed up with Harvey Levin to found and produce TMZ.com, which is now one of the biggest names in celebrity and entertainment news.
TMZ reported Mr Paratore was the one who pitched the idea for the website to executives at Time-Warner in 2006. He also produced the website's successful TV show.
TMZ co-founder, Harvey Levin, also took to Twitter, where he wrote: “Jim was a mentor to me for many years. He never feared a good, unconventional idea … he reveled in rebellion.”
Mr Paratore is survived by his wife, Jill Wickert, and his daughter.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Brody's Notes... Church Goes On Lockdown Due To Death Threats After Toddler's Homophobic Song Goes Viral

Apostolic Truth Tabernacle Church in Greensburg, Indiana 
By Brody Levesque | GREENSBURG, IN -- Members of the Apostolic Truth Tabernacle Church in Greensburg, Indiana Wednesday told numerous media outlets that the church's office has been receiving harassing calls and its pastor received death threats at his home,  after several prominent LGBTQ bloggers posted a YouTube of a cell phone video recording of an apparent 4 year old toddler singing a homophobic song at the church with pastor Sangl visible in the background smiling and nodding in approval. 
According to some congregants, a prayer meeting scheduled for Wednesday evening at church was moved to a secret location. Church members also said that the pastor, Jeff Sangl accompanied by his wife abruptly left on vacation with out disclosing the location where they will be staying.
In the audio of the recording, members can be heard applauding and cheering the toddler with one person shouting; "That's my boy!" The child sang lyrics which included: "I know the Bible's right, somebody's wrong- Romans 1 and 27, ain't no homo going to make it to heaven."
Noted author, Anne Rice, whose son Christopher is openly gay, posted the video to her Facebook page, writing, "In this country, Christians can teach toddlers to hate and to persecute, and we, through the automatic tax exemption for churches, foot the bill."
Gay rights advocate and co-founder of the "It Gets Better Project," Dan Savage, wrote in his regular column Wednesday:
"The Apostolic Truth Tabernacle is in Greensburg, Indiana. That's the town where Billy Lucas was bullied to death for being perceived to be gay by his classmates. I wonder if they stood up and cheered at Apostolic Truth Tabernacle when Lucas died—hey, another homo in hell. 
I wonder if any of Lucas's tormenters attend services at Apostolic Truth Tabernacle. And remember: I'm an anti-Christian bully for pointing out the connection between what straight kids are taught about 'homos' in the shithole mega-churches they're dragged to by their parents and what they turn around and do to 'homos' they encounter in classrooms. And what if that precocious little four-year-old singer is gay? Praise the Lord and pass the barf bags."
Despite the threats, all the members we spoke to have no regrets about the song getting posted online -- in fact one said, "The people who are upset just don't read the word of God. If we don't teach the children the truth early they will never learn."
As for the thunderous applause after the hate-filled song -- we're told, "Of course we applauded a child who is singing a song about God.
Late Wednesday evening, the church posted the following message to their website:
"The Pastor and members of Apostolic Truth Tabernacle do not condone, teach, or practice hate of any person for any reason. We believe and hope that every person can find true Bible salvation and the mercy and grace of God in their lives. We are a strong advocate of the family unit according to the teachings and precepts found in the Holy Bible. We believe the Holy Bible is the Divinely-inspired Word of God and we will continue to uphold and preach that which is found in scripture."

In Brief

Staff Reports
ExxonMobil Shareholders Reject Protections For LGBTQ Employees
DALLAS, TX -– ExxonMobil shareholders voted 80 percent to 20 percent Wednesday against a resolution that would have prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation. The resolution would have specifically amended “ExxonMobil's written equal employment opportunity policy to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and to substantially implement the policy.”
More than a decade ago, before Mobil Corp. was acquired by Exxon Corp., Mobil prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation and offered health benefits to domestic partners of its employees. Upon its 1999 merger with Exxon, the non-discrimination policy was removed and the domestic partner benefits program was closed to new employees. Since 1999, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation along with other groups such as the New York City Pension Funds, has filed a resolution to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected categories in the company’s EEO policy. In 2011, the shareholder proposal garnered significant support, receiving votes representing over 500 million shares with a market value of more than $42.4 billion.
In March, ExxonMobil again asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allow it to omit a resolution, sponsored by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, adding sexual orientation and gender identity to its EEO policies from its shareholder meeting. The SEC rejected the request to block the shareholder resolution.
Last week, ExxonMobil’s hometown newspaper, the Dallas Morning News, weighed in on the controversy surrounding the company’s 13-year refusal to protect its LGBT employees, publishing an editorial calling on the company to heed the call and do the right thing.
“The shareholder resolution to add sexual orientation and gender identity to ExxonMobil’s EEO policy was a non-binding referendum and the company still has the chance to do the right thing,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. 
“As perhaps the largest corporation in the country, ExxonMobil has a responsibility to be a good corporate citizen; sadly they have fallen far short. The company has resisted offering basic employment protections for their LGBT workers for years and it’s time they treat all of their employees like the valuable assets they are.”
As of 2012, 86 percent of Fortune 500 companies include sexual orientation in their EEO policy and 50 percent include gender identity.
On HRC’s Corporate Equality Index, ExxonMobil received a score of -25. In contrast, oil and gas companies such as Chevron, BP, Shell, and Spectra received scores of 85 or higher.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Brody's Notes... Opponents Of Nebraska Anti-Gay Discrimination Measure Get Enough Signatures For A Voter Referendum

Al Riskowski via Nebraska Family Council
By Chris Dyer | LINCOLN, NE -- Opponents of a measure passed by the Lincoln City Council - that was crafted to protect LGBT people against discrimination- announced Tuesday that enough signatures of registered voters had been gathered to force the city council to either repeal the measure, or place it on the November ballot for a city-wide referendum as required by the city's charter. The city charter allows citizens to seek a referendum on a newly passed ordinance by collecting enough signatures in a 15-day period.
Standing in front of a large “Let Us Vote” banner, Al Riskowski, executive director of the Nebraska Family Council, and Dave Bydalek, executive director of Family First, told reporters that 310 volunteers gathered petitions with 10,092 signatures by the 4:30 p.m. Tuesday deadline.
“The referendum is about the process. It calls for a vote of the people," said Riskowski, “It’s only fair that the City Council schedule a vote on the sexual orientation, gender identity ordinance," he said. “We followed the legal process. Now we expect them to do the same.”
Lincoln city attorney Rod Confer had previously stated that he found the language of the repeal or referendum petition flawed which prompted Family First's Bydalek to say today that he felt that the Nebraska Supreme Court would uphold the petition process even if the language is slightly flawed. “We would be in a very good position if this went to court,” he said.
Riskowski emphasized that both organizations will be asking the city's registered voters to vote against the ordinance which would have “wide-ranging ramifications” if passed.
The first step of the process is for the county election commissioner's office to check the signatures to make sure those signing are registered voters in Lincoln. If at least 2,489 registered voters signed, implementation of the ordinance is suspended and the issue goes to the City Council for a decision.
Lincoln City Election Commissioner Dave Shively said it would take his office a week or two to verify signatures.

In Brief

Staff Reports
Kansas Baptist Preacher Says Government Should Execute Gays
Seneca, Kansas
SENECA, KS -- The pastor of the New Hope Baptist Church in this small rural northeastern Kansas community- in a sermon submitted Sunday to the website SermonAudio.com- said that gay people should be put to death by the government.
The preacher, Curtis Knapp, in the sermon entitled Homosexuality and the Need for National Revival, said:
“They should be put to death. That’s what happened in Israel. That’s why homosexuality wouldn’t have grown in Israel. 
It tends to limit conversions. It tends to limit people coming out of the closet. — ‘Oh, so you’re saying we should go out and start killing them, no?’ — I’m saying the government should. They won’t but they should. 
[You say], ‘oh, I can’t believe you you’re horrible. You’re a backwards neanderthal of a person.’ Is that what you’re calling scripture? Is God a neanderthal backwards.. in his morality. Is it his word or not? If it’s his word, he commanded it. It’s his idea, not mine. And I’m not ashamed of it.”

Audio via Good As You:

Brody's Notes... Church-versus-State Showdown Sparked By Using The Word "Gay"

Dalton McGuinty
By Brody Levesque | TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA -- The Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto accused Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's administration Monday of making “religious freedom . . . a second-class right.” Marino Gazzola, chairperson of the Ontario Catholic School Trustees’ Association told the Toronto Star in an interview Tuesday said that using the word “gay” in the name of supportive clubs is going too far. “In our view the word itself is a distraction,” he said. “We want the focus to be on more than just one thing, more than just the sexuality of the student. We want the focus to be on the entire student.”
The church-versus-state showdown was sparked by an amendment from Education Minister Laurel Broten to the anti-bullying bill, closing a loophole that gave schools veto power over club names. Broten said that Ontario's LGBTQ students received highlighted mention in the legislation as statistically LGBTQ youth are at increased exposure and risk to being bullied and that schools, parents, and government needs to reinforce the message that this behaviour will not be tolerated.
According to some conservative lawmakers, including Tory MPP Lisa MacLeod, it’s a thinly veiled effort to undermine the $7 billion a year that Catholic schools get from Ontario taxpayers — almost one-third the annual education budget.
“The government has decided in this case that they want to be aggressive, they want to provoke the Catholic education system for whatever reason,” MacLeod told reporters. “Catholic school board trustees . . . are worried this is going to cause the de-funding of their system.”
Minister Broten categorically denied that her bill was an effort to defund Catholic schools instead pointing out that all provincial schools must follow the law as “we root out discrimination of all kinds, whether it’s racism, whether it’s misogyny, whether it’s homophobia."
“Our Catholic schools are public schools . . . every single one of our schools, whether Catholic or public, must be safe and accepting places for all of our students,” she said adding that is not “radical” for a gay club to have the word “gay” in the name noting that the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association support her position.
The battle shows it’s time to scrap Catholic school funding in favour of a single, secular public school system that could save taxpayers as much as $1.5 billion a year, said Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner. 
“Is it fair we fund one religious school system at the expense of all others?” he asked, citing a 1999 United Nations finding that Ontario was violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 
Catholic school boards said they’ll look for ways to fight back should the amendment on gay clubs be passed. 
“We’ll have to review and reassess our options,” Gazzola said during a 20-minute conference call with the media. 
“I the legislation passes, we expect our boards will obey but that still leaves us options to look at,” he added, refusing to comment on the prospects of a court challenge. ~ The Toronto Star

Brody's Notes... A Record Low for Anti-Gay Groups

By Matt Baume | WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA -- President Obama's leadership on marriage equality is proving to have a major impact, form national organizations and local polling. Anti-equality forces set a record, but it's probably not one they wanted. And DOMA is ruled unconstitutional in a fifth federal case.

Friday, May 25, 2012

Brody's Notes... Cuban LGBT Rights Activist Mariela Castro-Espín's U.S. Visit Stirs Controversy

Mariela Castro-Espín via Facebook
By Brody Levesque | SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- Mariela Castro-Espín, the director of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education, or CENESEX, located in the capital city of Havana and an activist for LGBT equality rights in Cuba, has stirred a firestorm of criticism with her controversial visit to the United States to speak at a conference hosted by the Latin American Studies Association.
Ms. Castro-Espín- the daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro and niece to the former communist dictator Fidel Castro- has built an international reputation as an outspoken LGBTQ equality rights advocate. In her native Cuba Castro-Espín lobbied the government to cover sex reassignment surgery under the national health plan, which it has since 2008, and to legalize same-sex marriages, which so far it has not.
U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, (R-FL) known for her dual positions of being a staunch anti-Castro Cuban American and one of Congress' most outspoken Republicans for LGBT equality, is harshly critical of Castro-Espín's U.S. visit.
“The Castro regime was particularly brutal and harsh in its treatment of members of the Cuban gay community and as part of its revisionist push the dictatorship wants the U.S. to believe its lies because it respects no one's rights," Ros-Lehtinen told The Miami Herald. 
"The Cuban dictatorship would round up members of the gay and AIDS community and send them to forced labor camps where their most basic human rights came under withering assaults. This is all a public relations ploy meant to soften Cuba’s image abroad and it will not work."
Ms. Castro-Espín's endorsement of the president in his reelection efforts were also met with criticism. Speaking before an audience at San Francisco General Hospital about transgender health care in Cuba, she said that she would vote for Barack Obama if she lived in this country. Citing the presidents's support for same-sex marriage Castro-Espín said “I would vote for President Obama.
GOP presidential front runner Mitt Romney's campaign weighed in saying;
“President Obama should disavow the endorsement of the daughter of Cuban dictator Raul Castro,” Romney campaign adviser Alberto Martinez said in a statement. 
"It is galling that an envoy from a Communist regime would come to our country and lecture the American people on who to vote for while the regime refuses to hold free and fair elections and systematically violates the human rights of its people,” said Martinez. 
“The decision by the Obama Administration to welcome Mariela Castro to our shores — a decision that has received rightful criticism from both Republicans and Democrats — continues to be an egregious affront to the people of Cuba and those who love freedom everywhere.”
Ms. Castro-Espín's remarks comes as she is in the United States for a multiday visit devoted largely to meeting with gay and transgender rights activists and an academic conference where she is scheduled to chair a panel on sexual diversity. She was one of at least 60 Cuban scholars who were granted U.S. visas to attend Thursday's meeting of the Latin American Studies Association.
Speaking about LGBTQ Equality rights in Cuba, Castro-Espín said;
"If we don't change our patriarchal and homophobic culture...we cannot advance as a new society, and that's what we want, the power of emancipation through socialism," she said. "We will establish relationships on the basis of social justice and social equality...It seems like a Utopia, but we can change it."
Gay Cuban Americans in Miami are furious that Fidel Castro's niece is meeting this week and next with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists in San Francisco and New York City reports The Miami Herald's Gay South Florida correspondent:
"For Mariela Castro, or anybody else under the Castro dictatorship, to say they are representing the rights of anyone is an insult to the hundreds of thousands who have either been killed, jailed or assassinated by their own hands, or the nearly 100,000 people who’ve jumped into the ocean looking for freedom who haven’t made it here," said Herb Sosa, executive director of Unity Coalition, Miami-Dade County's leading Hispanic gay rights group.
Castro-Espín is also scheduled to attend events in New York City and then fly home afterwards. She previously visited the United States in 2002 during Republican President George W. Bush's administration when she was granted a visa to attend events in Los Angeles, Virginia, and Washington.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

In Brief

Staff Reports
Vermont Lesbian Married Bi-National Couple Escape Deportation Threat
Frances Herbert & her spouse Takako Ueda
DUMMERSTON, VT -- A Japanese national living in the U. S. on an expired visa, Takako Ueda and her American wife, Frances Herbert, were informed Tuesday by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service that agency officials had decided to defer action on deportation proceedings against Ueda. She had been ordered to leave the country in a USCIS letter received last December.
The December 2011 deportation letter, which was addressed to Herbert- who had applied to be Ueda's sponsor- said that under the federal Defense of Marriage Act, they couldn't be considered spouses. DOMA defines marriage as "only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife."
"Your spouse is not a person of the opposite sex," wrote Robert Cowan, a U.S. CIS official. "Therefore, under the DOMA, your petition must be denied."
Federal immigration authorities demand extensive documentation showing a binational couple claiming to be married really is: witness statements, property records, utility and other household bills showing both names and the like often are required. Herbert said she and Ueda submitted 600 pages of such evidence with their application.
"It's despicable," Herbert said in an interview. "We had 600 pages of proof and 599 of them were completely ignored. One line on one page" — the one that said they were both women — "is what they paid attention to." ~ CBS News
A spokesperson for the agency confirmed to LGBTQNation late Thursday that Ueda's case would be reviewed in two years. 
Steve Ralls, a Washington-based spokesman for Immigration Equality, a group that advocates for such couples said that Ueda and Herbert are one of an estimated 36,000 bi-national, same sex couples living in the United States.
The women are among the five bi-national same sex couples who sued USCIS last month seeking permanent resident status for the foreign-born spouses. 
"This does not impact their lawsuit in any way," Ralls said of the decision by USCIS officials. But added that while Takako and Frances had "received good news for this next two years, they will continue to move forward in their quest to receive a green card for Takako, which is what they deserve."
Herbert, a 51-year-old home care provider, and Ueda, a 56-year-old graphic designer, were legally married in Vermont last year and have been together for more than a decade. Because the couple’s wedding nuptials were not recognized at the federal level due to DOMA, they didn't have spousal status for immigration purposes and besides the threat of deportation back to Japan, Ueda was unable to legally work or even obtain a drivers's licence.
The letter granting the couple a reprieve from the deportation threat arrived two weeks after President Barack Obama stated publicly for the first time that he supports same sex marriage.
A source at the USCIS said the agency's position had not changed noting that DOMA remains in effect and for the purposes of immigration laws USCIS will continue to enforce it until Congress repeals it or there a final judicial finding that it is unconstitutional. The source did say that "Deferred action is granted on a case-by-case basis for humanitarian reasons and is based on evidence provided in each case."
Vermont's sole U.S. Representative, Democrat Peter Welch's office released a statement saying;
"We welcome this remedy that for now will offer a measure of common sense and compassion for this Vermont couple," the statement said. "All three of our offices have worked hard to support this loving and committed couple who have been unfairly prevented by DOMA from enjoying the rights and benefits that all lawfully married couples deserve."

Dallas Morning News to ExxonMobil: Get With The Program And Evolve Already On LGBTQ Workplace Protections
DALLAS, TX -- This morning, the Dallas Morning News editorial board weighed in on the controversy surrounding the Irving, Texas-based oil giant ExxonMobil’s 13-year refusal to add LGBTQ workplace protections, publishing a scathing editorial. The company has resisted a formal policy prohibiting discrimination against LGBT employees. The state of Texas does legally allow persons to be fired simply for being LGBT.
The fight to make ExxonMobil’s non-discrimination policy inclusive dates back to 1999. Before Mobil Corp. was acquired by Exxon Corp., Mobil prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation and offered health benefits to domestic partners of its employees. Upon its 1999 merger with Exxon, the non-discrimination policy was removed and the domestic partner benefits program was closed to new employees. Since that year, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation along with other groups such as the New York City Pension Funds, has filed a resolution to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected categories in the company’s EEO policy.
In March, ExxonMobil again asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allow it to omit a resolution, sponsored by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, adding sexual orientation and gender identity to its EEO policies from its shareholder meeting which will be held May 30. The SEC rejected the request to block the shareholder resolution.
“ExxonMobil has resisted offering basic employment protections for their LGBT employees for years,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “With each passing year, it becomes more apparent that instituting inclusive non-discrimination policies is the right thing to do. 
This year alone, the New York State Comptroller said it’s fiscally responsible, the SEC cleared a path to progress, and the oil giant’s hometown newspaper, the Dallas Morning News, called on the company to protect all workers”
"By explicitly prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, the company will join the growing community of corporations that now view this as an essential and even indispensable part of doing business," the Morning News wrote in its editorial.

Brody's Scribbles... Shoving Genitalia In Your Face

By Bart Vogelzang | VANCOUVER ISLAND, B.C., CANADA -- It is springtime in much of the northern hemisphere, and just about everywhere we see evidence of this with myriad blossoms. Some shrubs and trees start with blooms, followed shortly by the emergence of leaves, yet others do it in the opposite order, with new life sustaining leaves adding strength to the plant before it produces a seductive display of blossoms. Bulbs do the same thing, with some producing greenery first, soon to be followed with blooms, and others ejecting out of the ground with resplendent finery. Of course they have ulterior motives, if one can assign motives to plants.
Each plant is trying to maximize its opportunity to reproduce, and easy access by a pollinating agent is essential. Staggering their blossoming periods gives the pollinators a chance to visit the same species, one after the other, furthering their reproduction. If too many species tried to compete by blossoming the same time, there would be less likelihood that any one plant would receive the necessary DNA from another of the same species.
Penis Cactus ~ Photo By Dallas Krentzel
What many people don’t realize is that it is not just bees in their many variations doing the pollinating, but moths, butterflies, bats, hummingbirds, flies, and many others much less obvious. Mother Nature even uses the wind and the rain as pollinators, easily seen in many areas when clouds of pollen mask the landscape, often causing allergic reactions in people and other animals.
The ‘dirty little secret’ that often goes unsaid is that the blossoms and flowers are the sex organs of plants; floral genitalia. They are their primary reproductive organs and the most gentile belle, and the most dignified gentleman, won’t even think twice about shoving genitalia in your face. “Here, sniff this,” is commonly heard at this time of year. “Isn’t this beautiful,” they exclaim, pointing to the delicate folds of the exquisite rosebud just opening, seemingly for their personal pleasure.
The variety of Nature, some call it God’s garden, is immense, and it is obvious to all in the LGBTQ branches of our family that we are simply part of that variety. The foolishness of denying natural variety in our species seems to be strongest in the religious conservative camp; but it’s not as if plants, or people, can change their very natures. Religious tilting at self-created windmills of constraint will do nothing but cause distress, whilst acceptance of the reality of diversity will lead to peace and contentment, allowing all to face enjoyment of their genitalia in their own most satisfying ways.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Brody's Notes... Obama Campaign: LGBT Americans for Obama

By Brody Levesque | WASHINGTON -- The campaign to reelect President Barack Obama and Vice-President Joe Biden rolled out a new campaign effort Wednesday targeting LGBTQ American voters. Officially known as 'Obama Pride,' the effort has been joined by Hollywood progressives as well as some noted LGBTQ activists including the nephew of slain San Francisco Supervisor and gay rights icon Harvey Milk, Stuart Milk, who wrote:
As my uncle Harvey would say, I'm here to recruit you.
My uncle was one of the first openly gay politicians in the U.S.—and yesterday people across the country celebrated Harvey Milk Day to remember his life and legacy. 
I know Harvey would be fighting just as hard today to advance the equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. 
[...] President Obama is the first sitting president to support marriage equality. He repealed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," expanded the federal hate crimes law to protect LGBT people, and helped make sure that same-sex couples could have visitation and medical decision-making rights in hospitals. 
Mitt Romney, his likely opponent, supports a federal marriage amendment that would outlaw same-sex marriages, even in states where they are legal—and if it passes, it would be the first time in our country's history that the Constitution is amended to discriminate and deny rights to Americans. Romney even stands to the right of President Bush in opposing civil unions for same-sex couples. 
It's a pretty stark choice—and we can't sit this one out. We've got to be out there talking to voters and sharing our stories to encourage people to vote for the progress they want to see.
The campaign also released a video [Below] narrated by Glee star Jane Lynch about LGBT rights in America. The video features a candid interview with the president who speaks about the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, why he supports marriage equality, and what's at stake for the LGBT community in this coming election.
In a question and answer session at Wednesday's official launch in Washington, Human Rights Campaign president, Joe Solmonese- who co-chairs the campaign for the president's re-election- told Metroweekly magazine's political director Chris Geidner:
"One of the things I've really been inspired by the president and the administration -- and this goes back to the days that we met with them in the transition offices before we were in the White House, and quite frankly, it goes back to during the campaign in the general election -- one of the things that was always clear to me, and it came from the president, was that the agenda was really a collective conversation between the president and the administration, us as a community and our allies on Capitol Hill in the House and the Senate," he said. 
"And that collective agreement and collective sense of where we were had everything to do with why we moved hate crimes first, we moved 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' second. So, I think that collective understanding of where we're going is how we're really going to shape the agenda for the next administration. 
"Obviously, we have landmark issues that we need to continue to address, continue to move on, like the repeal of DOMA, like the passage of a fully inclusive ENDA. 
"So, that's the kind of ongoing conversation that we'll have. I think one of the things that we all recognize, and I think the president recognizes this, and we saw this during the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' is that the makeup of Congress is going to have a lot to do with that. 
And that is why those fights and the fight that we do everything we can to take back an LGBT-friendly House of Representatives are going to have a lot to do with how that agenda gets shaped. And hold what we have in the Senate, and hopefully add to those numbers."
Solmonese, who is due to leave HRC in June will be succeeded by Chad Griffin, who is slated to take-over at the nation's largest LGBT political organization June 12.
The Obama campaign's national LGBT vote director, Jamie Citron, also announced that the campaign had also launched an LGBT-specific campaign page. [Here]
WATCH:

Brody's Journal... Gay Couple Given Egg To Nurture

Inca sitting on his egg while Rayas keeps watch.
Photo courtesy of The Faunia Park Zoo, Madrid, Spain
By Brody Levesque | MADRID, SPAIN -- A same sex aquatic bird couple in Spain has been allowed to adopt an egg to nurture. Inca and Rayas, a Gentoo gay penguin couple at the Faunia Park Zoo, have suffered from repeated heartache for a long time according to zookeeper Yolanda Martin. The pair had carefully built and lovingly looked after six nests, but those nests remained sadly empty.
Martin noted that Inca and Rayas had longingly watched the other penguin couples welcome their little chicks into the world, and finally after zookeepers took pity on them, the gay birds now appear delighted to finally have been given the chance to enjoy “parenthood.”
According to Martin, Inca has taken on the "female" role of incubating the donated egg (that is due to hatch in June), and sits loyally on his child to be while even turning down the chance to get his feathers wet with a refreshing swim. Meanwhile, his 'husband' Rayas keeps a watchful eye on their nest and chases off any potential predators or gawkers.
“We wanted them to have something to stay together for — so we got an egg. Otherwise they might have become depressed," said Martin.
Inca and Rayas aren’t the first gay penguins to be given a helping hand by zookeepers. Time magazine reported last December on another gay penguin couple.
The zookeepers at Harbin Polar Land Zoo in northern China embraced their eccentric penguins by not only giving them a same-sex wedding ceremony but also providing them with their very own baby chick to care for. 
The pair, named Adam and Steve, had a history of stealing eggs from the 'straight' couples during hatching season, so when keepers noticed that a mother of recently hatched twins was struggling with her parenting duties, they decided to give Adam and Steve the baby they were looking for. ~ Time magazine

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Brody's Notes... Nebraska Governor Calls For Popular Vote On Anti-LGBTQ Discrimination Ordinances

By Chris Dyer | LINCOLN, NE -- Nebraska's Republican Governor Dave Heineman told reporters Tuesday that voters should have a voice on the recently enacted city ordinances in the state's two most populous cities of Lincoln and Omaha that would ban discrimination against LGBT people.
"I think in both cases ... they should put it to the vote of the people," Heineman said citing a recent attorney general's opinion that says the cities would have to amend their city charters to offer such protections to groups not covered by state law.
The Lincoln, Neb., City Council May 14 had approved expanding the city’s civil rights protections to include its LGBT citizens. The Omaha city council approved a similar non-discrimination ordinance that would prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity two months ago.
In the case of Lincoln, the measure is being challenged, however. Two conservative right wing christian advocacy groups said they will organize a petition drive to stop the proposal from going into effect until there is a city-wide vote on the issue. Under a provision of the city’s charter, the coalition has just 15 days to collect the signatures.
Al Riskowski, executive director of Nebraska Family Council, told the Lincoln Journal-Star that the group is hoping that they will get the necessary 2,500 signatures from registered voters by the May 29 deadline. 
"We know we have over 200 petitioners out there," and most petitions coming back have about 20 signatures, Riskowski said Tuesday afternoon. "That makes us very hopeful we can get enough signatures." 
Many churches had petitions available after services last week, including all of the local Catholic churches and some Lutheran ones, he said. ~The Journal Star
Supporters of the measures claim that such legal protections are necessary because there is real discrimination. Twenty-seven percent of 770 Nebraskans participating in a 2011 online survey said they had experienced some form of discrimination in the workplace in the past five years because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
But, according to the Journal-Star, opponents of the fairness ordinance, who believe homosexual behavior is a sin, say the measure will require them to abandon their faith at the doorsteps of their churches.

In Brief

Staff Reports
Gay Student Allowed To Wear ‘Jesus is Not A Homophobe’ T-shirt To His High School
CINCINNATI, OH -- The clerk's office for U.S. District Court Judge Michael R. Barrett announced Monday that a judgement in the case of a gay teen who sued his school after being threatened with suspension for wearing a t-shirt containing the message “Jesus is not a Homophobe,” will be allowed to wear the shirt to school whenever he chooses.
In the judgement, Maverick Couch and the Wayne Local School District, agreed that the teenager may wear the “Jesus Is Not A Homophobe” T-shirt without restriction and specifies that the district must pay $20,000 in damages and court costs.
The suit stems from an April 2011 incident at Waynesville High School, when Maverick wore a t-shirt with a rainbow Ichthys, or “sign of the fish,” and a slogan that says “Jesus Is Not a Homophobe” in observation of National Day of Silence.
According to the suit, principal Randy Gebhardt called Maverick into his office and instructed him to turn the T-shirt inside out; Maverick complied.
But over the summer, Maverick further researched his First Amendment rights, and when school resumed in the fall of 2011, he approached the school principal seeking permission to wear the T-shirt. Gebhardt restated that he would be suspended if he wore the shirt.
In January 2012, Lambda Legal contacted Gebhardt, and outlined the legal precedent supporting Maverick’s right to wear the shirt, to which the school district issued this response:
“…the message communicated by the student’s T-shirt is sexual in nature and therefore indecent and inappropriate in a school setting.”
On Tuesday, April 3, 2012, Lambda Legal filed suit, arguing that the school district violated Maverick’s First Amendment rights, and asked the Court to issue a temporary restraining order allowing Maverick to wear the T-shirt while the Court resolved the case.
Couch said the shirt is a statement of pride and he hopes other students now know they can feel pride, too.
The school district did not return calls or e-mails seeking comment.

Monday, May 21, 2012

In Brief

Staff Reports
North Carolina Pastor Wants LGBTQ People Put In Electrified Pen To Die Off
MAIDEN, NC -- Another alleged 'man of god' from a small baptist church in this North Carolina community has been caught on tape calling for the deaths of 'Queers & Homosexuals'.
The reverend Charles L. Worley of Providence Road Baptist Church in Maiden, N.C., was filmed on a YouTube rant reportedly filmed on May 13 condemning President Barack Obama's endorsement of same-sex marriage and calling for LGBTQ people to be put in an electrified pen and ultimately killed off.
"Build a great, big, large fence -- 150 or 100 mile long -- put all the lesbians in there," Worley said adding; "Do the same thing for the queers and the homosexuals and have that fence electrified so they can't get out...and you know what, in a few years, they'll die out...do you know why? They can't reproduce!"
Worley said that if he's asked who he'll vote for, he'll reply, "I'm not going to vote for a baby killer and a homosexual lover!" In the background a significant number of the audience can be heard cheering and saying, "Amen."
Worley added, “It makes me pukin’ sick to think about -- I don’t even whether or not to say this in the pulpit -- can you imagine kissing some man?”
WATCH:

NAACP Endorses Same-Sex Marriage Equality
MIAMI, FL -- The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) executive board, meeting in Miami, passed a resolution last Friday endorsing same-sex marriage equality on the heels of President Obama’s historic support for marriage equality, and subsequent polling on the issue among African-Americans. In the resolution the board stated that it was demanded by the equal protection guarantees written into the U.S. Constitution.
“The mission of the NAACP has always been to ensure political, social and economic equality of all people. We have and will oppose efforts to codify discrimination into law,” NAACP Chairperson Roslyn M Brock said in a released statement. 
NAACP president, Benjamin Todd, an outspoken supporter of LGBTQ rights, said “Civil marriage is a civil right and a matter of civil law. The NAACP’s support for marriage equality is deeply rooted in the fourteenth amendment of the United States constitution and equal protection of all people.”
Following President Obama’s historic endorsement of the issue, attitudes within the African-American community have become even more positive. A Washington Post-ABCNews poll showed that 54 percent of African Americans backed the President’s statement while a Public Policy Poll- also taken after the President’s announcement- reflected an 11-point increase among African Americans in North Carolina who support either marriage or civil unions for committed gay and lesbian couples.
Half of African-Americans, according to an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll conducted earlier this month, back marriage equality. The Journal reported, “Almost every demographic slice was more in favor of gay marriage than it had been in 2009.”
“We could not be more pleased with the NAACP’s history-making vote – which is yet another example of the traction marriage equality continues to gain in every community,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. 
“It’s time the shameful myth that the African-American community is somehow out of lockstep with the rest of the country on marriage equality is retired - once and for all. The facts and clear momentum toward marriage speak for themselves.”
Observers consider this a positive step in bridging the apparent divide between ethnic minorities and the LGBTQ community, and reinforces previous findings from Pew Research Center that African Americans have become more supportive of marriage equality than even four years ago, though they still remain the ethnic group most opposed to the move.

Brody's Scribbles... Leaked GOP Memo Supports Gay Marriage

By Matt Baume | WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA -- A leaked memo urges an about-face for anti-equality Republicans. A civil unions bill dies in Colorado, for now. But access to marriage expands in Rhode Island, and more new surveys confirm the ever-growing public support for equality.

Brody's Notes... Dharun Ravi Sentenced To 30 Days In Jail & Probation In Rutgers Suicide Case

Dharun Ravi at sentencing May 21, 2012  

By Brody Levesque | NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ -- A New Jersey Superior Court judge has sentenced former Rutgers student Dharun Ravi, 20, to 30 days in the Middlesex County Adult Detention facility, a three year probation sentence which includes a requirement to complete 300 hours of community services, and attend a counseling program relative to cyber bullying and alternate lifestyles. Ravi was also ordered to pay $10,000 to the probation department, the monies to be allotted to a program dedicated to victims of bias crimes.
As Judge Glenn Berman addressed Ravi, he quickly pointed out that he hasn’t heard Ravi apologize.
“I heard this jury say guilty 288 times: 24 questions, 12 jurors, that’s the multiplication,” Berman said. “And I haven't heard you apologize once.” 
Berman also said he will recommend that Ravi not be deported. “Down the road you can expunge this judgement,” Berman said. “You cannot expunge the conduct or the pain you caused.”
The Indian-born Ravi was facing a sentence of up to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of bias intimidation and invasion of privacy in a case that exploded into the headlines when Ravi's roommate committed suicide. Tyler Clementi, 18, jumped off the George Washington Bridge on Sept. 22, 2010, after finding out that Ravi had secretly recorded him live with a same-sex partner and appeared to encourage others to watch his romantic encounters via a webcast on Ravi's computer.
"This individual was not convicted of a hate crime, he was convicted of a bias crime," Judge Berman said, adding that Ravi's crimes were committed out of "colossal insensitivity.”
The Clementi family, addressing Ravi in their victim impact statements, highlighted Ravi's apparent lack of remorse about the incidents which caused them loss of their son and brother.
Joseph Clementi, Tyler Clementi’s father, became choked up as he read his impact statement;
“He was very vulnerable and he was shaken by the cold criminal actions of his roommate,” Clementi said referring to Tyler. "We are seeking justice and accountability, not revenge,” adding that he felt Ravi has shown a “lack of any real remorse.”
James Clementi, Tyler’s brother, said Ravi has never shown any remorse or apologized to the family, and he has found himself wondering if Ravi is “even capable of empathizing with another person.”
I ask only for fairness and justice,” James Clementi said. He added that it was apparent that Ravi decided Tyler was “someone who deserved to be laughed at, picked on and violated.” “Tyler’s final days and hours were filled with fear, shame and a despair so great it ripped him away from me forever.”
Tyler’s mother, Jane Clementi, said Ravi’s actions were “malicious and evil.” “What I want is justice,” she said. “The court needs to show … this was not right and it was not acceptable behavior and it will not be tolerated.” She asked why no one else in the dorm spoke up for Tyler. “How could they all go along with such meanness?” she asked. “No one spoke up to the mastermind, the computer genius,” she said adding that Ravi’s actions were “mean-spirited, they are evil and most important they are against the law.”
Richard Pompelio, the lawyer for M.B.- the man who was caught on the web camera in the romantic encounter with Tyler Clementi- read from a written statement from his client saying; 
[...] "While I bear no anger towards Mr. Ravi, after much thought and many sleepless nights, I must say that Mr. Ravi should serve some type of confinement so that he can reflect on the serious harm he has caused," Pompelio read. "I do not believe that he has taken responsibility for his conduct, and to this day he seems to blame me for the actions he took."
After Judge Berman finished sentencing, he stayed the sentence at the request of Prosecutor Julia McClure who said that the state will appeal as prosecutors had asked for significant state prison time to be levied against the defendant. Defense lawyers also indicated that they would appeal as well.
A team of deputy sheriffs escorted Ravi and several of his relatives from the courtroom, hurrying them through a crowd of reporters and photographers who followed Ravi and his family as he was hustled silently to a nearby parking lot. Ravi refused to respond to repeated questions shouted from the crowd.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Des DownUnder On Sundays

By Desmond Rutherford | ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA -- Religion Stops the World with Gay Abandon
Men like Freud, Kinsey, Marx, and Darwin, all pioneers in their own fields, had to combat the customs of their cultures to make their contributions to human knowledge. Similarly, older historical figures, amongst them Socrates, Galileo, and Columbus, all had to contend with their prevailing cultures and authorities. The concern herein is not with the actual discoveries and contributions made by such men, often at extreme and deeply personal levels of self-confrontation, but with the fact that they had to question, deny, defy and combat the stultifying and entrenched values of their cultures with risk to their own welfare.
With many of their achievements, they set the world stage for the progress of science, technology, and, with the work of the humanist enlightenment philosophers, advanced the concepts of individual freedom. Furthermore, the settlement of the Americas and the subsequent United States Constitution with its Amendments, broke the unquestioned control of religious power over not only the state, but also the individual.
Universal human rights were beginning to be acknowledged in law. Slavery was eventually outlawed, women freed from being a chattel of men, and individuals were at last free to believe or not believe in a religion; except that it hasn’t fully been realised. Why?
Without going into specifics, the main delay has been the reluctant relinquishing of all the restraining rules, laws and customs of previous generations. That is nothing new, as the previously mentioned pioneers faced confrontation with such entrenched beliefs and laws. They succeeded in displacing many of those archaic beliefs because the empirical reality of their findings was irrefutable, or consisted of thoroughly sound rational arguments based on fact rather than conjecture.
Traditional beliefs, laws and customs were questioned and recognised as unjust, misleading, inadequate, and inaccurate. Without pursuing natural intellectual curiosity using scientific method, and acceptance of revealed reality, we would all still be believing the insanity of a flat Earth, and murdering each other for the sake of personal subjective beliefs. We are better than that.
It should be obvious that globally we humans still have a long way to go. Whilst technology has given us a global ‘village’, so to speak, from a cultural point of view there remain many diverse and unquestioned customs and rituals that influence our lives.
Many customs have already been discarded as they no longer serve a useful function within our societies. Some positive legacies have sadly been destroyed or allowed to waste away, or even torn down...without a memory of their value. Other beliefs have become petrified into a perversion of their original concept and value. Conservatives have failed in their duty to conserve our natural heritage; instead, trying to preserve irrational religious beliefs for positions of power over others. Progressives, on the other hand, have struggled to protect, let alone advance, the evolution of our intellects and knowledge.
There has also been tolerance shown towards those remaining beliefs, customs and primitive explanations for existence, as long as they seemed harmless. However, recently those beliefs and customs have become rituals of terror in the lives of many people, in nearly all nations; from bombings to bullying.
Many religious are claiming that their beliefs are under threat, evoking much sentimental support amongst their misguided followers. So outrageous, so egregious have their attempts been to subjugate peoples to their beliefs, that they have received righteous ridicule for their antiquated tenets.
Nowhere do we see more determination to preserve irrational belief than we do in the three religions derived from Abraham. Those ancient beliefs from our ancestors’ emerging intellects are no longer necessary to explain natural phenomena, in the light of modern scientific knowledge.
We don’t need religious moral guidance for good conduct, something which religions acquired from our innate sense of ethics and human goodness, and then perverted. Realising our intrinsic goodness is another intellectual advance that has to be made, in defiance of the illogical religious claims that human nature is essentially evil. If that were true we wouldn’t have survived as long as we have, with or without a ‘saviour’. Once the idea of sin is understood to be a manipulative religious fraud, our lives become much less fraught, and are freed from irrational fears, and much more open to loving relationships, satisfaction and fulfillment.
For debates about what happens after death or ultimate answers for cosmological creation, the contention of a god is as good a consideration as any. But, even as an agnostic view, this holds no sway with the equally reasonable atheist opinion that no gods exist at all. Such belief as there is for a god is wholly subjective, emotional and without substantiation, surviving solely on the circular argument that the holy books make, that they are the word of God because they are holy, and that they are holy because they are the word of God. Holy beliefs, set in stone from the Bronze Age, must be revealed as primitive ignorance, awaiting displacement by the growing cognition of our evolving, functioning minds in pursuit of reality.
There is nothing, either tangible or credible, to indicate that any god is the least bit interested in the sex lives of humans, beyond the believers’ own supposition that a god would care.
Neither would any god be interested in the religious believers who provoked wars, crusades and inquisitions; or our slavery, torture and bullying of each other or any religious beliefs. Human problems remain problems for humans to solve with philosophical deliberation, rational analysis of our psyches and development of cultures devoted to Mankind’s needs; without leaving us feeling helpless and trapped in a new despair of intellectual deprivation.
Just as those previous pioneers of knowledge had to confront the customs and beliefs of their eras, so too must we stand firm in our affirmation of productive, wholesome human experience, our human rights, and our freedom from religious persecution. Note that there is a difference between religious belief being persecuted, and people being persecuted by religion.
When religious people complain that another person encroaches upon their religious freedoms by being required to accept behaviour the religious consider immoral, it is not their religious freedom that is being confronted, but their religious beliefs. Claiming those beliefs as coming from God, or from Holy Scripture is quite laughable to non-believers. Indeed, any attempt to demand that the non-believer must surrender to religious belief or opinion is not only a persecution of that person, but immediately invalidates the idea of religious freedom, and, by extension, prerequisite individual freedom.
It is basic logic that freedom of religion must also be freedom from religion. Without both, ‘freedom of’ and ‘freedom from’ religion, religious freedom does not exist; there is only imposed religion, without the choice to not believe, and thus no freedom. That’s the basis of The Inquisition; believe and obey as ‘suggested’, acknowledge that a religion is infallible, having the moral right to intolerantly impose itself on those whose opinions differ. That is exactly what is meant when we say ‘bigotry’.
"There is nothing, either tangible or credible, to indicate that any god is the least bit interested in the sex lives of humans, beyond the believers’ own supposition that a god would care."
If we are to avoid conflict over religious opinion (belief), and maintain individual freedom, then religions can no longer be permitted to persecute non-believers with their beliefs. If the power of religious organisations to persecute others, deny others their individual freedom to believe as they wish, and to be who they are, is not blocked behind the gates of their churches, then the freedoms seemingly accorded to secular society are a travesty.
No one is saying that believers cannot practice their religion, but they cannot be permitted to stop others from leading free lives, or having access to equal rights, by enforcing religious rules on them; even if they claim that their religion says they must do so.
The conflict regarding religious belief is between the freedom to believe, or no freedom at all. This is the last stand of religions’ attempt to enforce its opposition to Mankind’s cognitive relationship with reality, instead of accepting submission to age-old unverifiable beliefs of religions.
If we are to advance and increase our knowledge, then religious belief cannot be permitted to continue its traditional irrational authoritarian control over our intellects, at the expense of our relationship with reality.
Religion’s attempt to abusively control the human intellect must end.
Neither can religion be permitted to maintain its primitive assertions that a god regards our natural relationships as sin, just because their holy books say so. Confining our loving human relationships to archaic religious concepts is as damaging, restricting, and oppressing, as denying science the opportunity to increase our knowledge of reality. If religions cannot cope with humans making sense of reality, or making love, they have set themselves up to be made as obsolete as they fear; as with their once held belief that the Earth was flat, they really have no choice but to redefine their own myths.
Religions may claim that God is love, but then, using their own circular reasoning, that also means that Love is God...but enough wordplay. If we are to participate in the reality that the great thinkers worked so hard to reveal to us, then we must ensure the survival of our human ability to interact with that reality, expanding our knowledge of it, intelligently, compassionately and lovingly.
It is not same sex marriage, or any attempt to define marriage that will lead to the destruction of our societies as so often reiterated by religious fundamentalists. As we can learn from history, downfalls of civilisations stem from when we lose the ability to adapt to our constantly changing reality; just as death occurs when our bodies can no longer accommodate life’s requirements. Our cultures collapse, wither and turn to dust when they no longer supply our real need to be living, loving self-aware intelligent beings. If we are lucky, when they collapse their remains will become the foundation for building and extending our discovery of the real world.
Opposing this inevitable maturation of humanity’s higher intuition and cognitive powers are all those archaic thoughts we mistakenly believe are explanations for reality. They were explanations which seemed reasoned and reasonable at the time but were in fact our own imagination, our own hypotheses being mistaken for fact. Religions evolved from them, and when married to the idea of a god, another of our hypotheses, we founded new cultures incorporating the delusion of those religions.
If we continue to allow religions to misconstrue reality, we will be complicit in the downfall of our civilization. If religions remain intent on denying the natural marriage of life and love, whether LGBTQ or straight, there is a real danger that their archaic misconceptions will destroy all we have created, including our compassion for each other.
Our affection for each other is wholesomely expressed in the reality of our physical love making. In the context of love, human sexual expression is as real as the round world on which we live. Love is not a straight flat plane without undulations. Love is what makes the world go round, and to deny that is to stupidly try to stop the world.
The real, the only true and everlasting original sin, is religious denial of reality.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Brody's Notes... Mississippi Lawmaker Cites Bible Passage That Calls For Gays To Be Put To Death On Facebook

Screenshot Of Gipson's Facebook page.
By Brody Levesque | JACKSON, MS -- A Mississippi state lawmaker last week after the announcement by President Barack Obama's announcement affirming support for same-sex marriage, invoked an old testament bible passage calling for gay men to be "put to death on his Facebook page.
State Representative Andy Gipson (R-D77) in a May 10 Facebook post called homosexuality a "sin," citing Leviticus 20:13;
Been a lot of press on Obama’s opinion on “homosexual marriage.” The only opinion that counts is God’s: see Romans 1:26-28 and Leviticus 20:13. Anyway you slice it, it is sin. Not to mention horrific social policy. 
[Leviticus 20:13 reads: "If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads."]
In a later post responding to a follower, Gipson wrote a clarification calling same-sex relationships "unnatural" and suggesting that they will inherently "result in disease":
Sorry I’ve been busy and not had a chance to reply. David, in addition to the basic principal that it is morally wrong, here are three social reasons it’s horrific social policy: 1) Unnatural behavior which results in disease, not the least of which is its high association with the development and spread of HIV/AIDS; 2) Confusing behavior which is harmful to children who have a deep need to understand the proper role of men and women in society and the important differences between men and women, and fathers and mothers; and 3) Undermines the longstanding definition of marriage as between one man and one woman, a definition which has been key to all aspects of social order and prosperity. Anytime that definition is weakened our culture is also weakened. And yes, that is also true for other conduct which weakens marriage’s importance in society.
Once news of Gipson's remarks became publicly known, Knol Aust, Chairman of Unity Mississippi responded writing on the organsation's website:
"Mr. Gipson is wrong when he states the only opinion that counts is his god’s. As a representative of Mississippi, the only opinions he should be concerned with are those of his constituents. While his particular god may play an important role in his life, it is not his job to impose his beliefs and faith upon the people he represents."
Aust then countered Gipson's arguments writing:
Unnatural behavior which results in disease
Disease is a ridiculous argument. Being gay does not equal disease just like being straight does not equal disease-free. A heterosexual person with HIV or terminal cancer can still get a marriage license, but a loving gay couple of 20+ years cannot. To argue that disease is a legitimate reason to deny marriage to loving same-sex couples is absurd. Humans spread disease not sexual orientation.The unnatural talking point is a tired and desperate argument since it has no science to back it. It’s clear Representative Gipson hasn’t kept up with biology since his high school days. To be fair, he studied law; it’s very possible biology wasn’t his strongest suit. To suggest being gay or lesbian is unnatural goes against basic science. Homosexuality exists in over 500 species; homophobia exists in one… Which seems more unnatural?
Harmful to children
Research shows children who grow up in households with gay parents have normal self-esteem. Also, churches, governments, and individuals telling children and adults they are unnatural is what’s harmful to children. Love is a simple concept for children to grasp; bigotry and hate are what confuse and harm children (and adults).
Culture is weakened:
A culture divided by bigotry is a weakened culture. When the LGBT community has full equality under the law, our society and culture will be stronger. Our youth will recognize that all Americans are equal and respected by our government. It’s really quite simple.
Mr. Gipson needs to realize he represents all of his constituents. He should not cherry-pick which constituents he wants to work for. He should also realize his positions are neither popular nor Republican. LGBT individuals, couples, and families help pay Gipson’s salary. It’s important that he remember that.
While polling shows that nation's approval of same-sex marriage has trended slightly above 50 percent in a recent poll, a November 2011 poll found that only 13 percent of Mississippi voters thought it should be legal, while 78 percent said it should remain illegal. Even among Democrats, only 19 percent expressed support.